Benefits of Professional Nursing Associations

Professional Nursing Associations: Rationale

A professional association refers to "an organization of practitioners who judge one another as professionally competent and who have banded together to perform social functions which they cannot perform in their separate capacities as individuals" (Merton, as cited in Matthews, 2012). Nursing has, over time, developed to professional status and is at present characterized by numerous national professional associations. Whether or not these associations add value to their professions and whether or not there is need to have so many of them have been subjects of debate in recent years. This context gives an in-depth demonstration of the rationale behind professional nursing associations, and illustrates why there is need to have them in greater numbers.

The Rationale behind Professional Nursing Associations

Nursing is built upon the concept of advocacy; nurses not only advocate for their profession, but for their patients as well (Gregg-McQuilkin, 2005). Professional associations, motivated by ethical and moral principles, spearhead this advocacy role by "arguing within political, economic, and social systems, and also institutions, for an idea or cause that can lead to" resource-allocation decisions that are promotional to the well-being of the nursing fraternity and the greater healthcare field (Matthews, 2012).

Since these professional associations are created by nurses, they serve as an outward articulation of the social policy, integrity, practice, and values of the nursing profession, and in so doing, demonstrate self-regulation in addition to advocacy (Day, 2006).

There is power in numbers, and nurses are better-placed to advocate for their causes if they congregate and voice out their individual ideas through these kinds of professional associations (Day, 2006). In the United States, the American Nurses Association (ANA) coordinates and solicits ideas from individual nurses and from the various nursing associations, deliberates on the same, and then "develops them based on the Code of Ethics, and the other two framework documents that serve as the basis of the nursing profession" (Matthews, 2012). The two documents (framework texts) are the "Social Policy Statement and the Scope and Standards of Practice in nursing" (Matthews, 2012). These, together with the Code of Ethics for Nurses, define the standards, values, and commitments of the nursing practice and, hence, instill a sense of accountability within the nursing profession and create some form of shared or common direction (Matthews, 2012).

Benefits of being a Member of a Professional Nursing Association

The rationale of professional nursing associations can also be studied in terms of the advantages or benefits that such associations bestow on their members. Gregg-McQuilkin (2005) outlines three major benefits that members of professional nursing organizations stand to enjoy.

Education: technology is highly dynamic today and there is need for nurses to keep abreast with the changes affecting the field of healthcare. Professional nursing associations help members to keep up with any changes in science and technology by offering them continuing education (CE) courses at discounted prices (Gregg-McQuilkin, 2005).

Networking: professional associations provide opportunities for networking through such platforms as websites and online chat forums with the help of which members can not only connect with healthcare practitioners at local, state, or national conventions, but also interact with peers and obtain knowledge on how others handle some of the same issues they face (Gregg-McQuilkin, 2005).

Certification: professional associations often give certification to their members. This kind of certification not only instills a sense of belonging but also serves as an outward sign of one's alignment to the association's Code of Ethics and Social Policy Statement, and most importantly, demonstrates one's "commitment to excellence in" their practice (Gregg-McQuilkin, 2005).

One Organization as the Voice for Nursing

There is the belief that two people working together can advocate for their causes and voice out their ideas better than they would in their individual capacities (Mason, Leavitt & Chafee, 2013). This ideology forms the backbone of professional associations and has obviously played a role in the nursing profession "as evidenced by the breadth and depth of the various nursing groups that seek to enhance the work of nurses generally and in their specialty areas" (Matthews, 2012). Today, the number of nursing professional associations in the U.S. alone exceeds one hundred. To this end, one may ask; is it necessary to have all these? Wouldn't one organization acting as the voice of the entire nursing fraternity be sufficient? The subsequent subsections attempt to explain why an umbrella organization would not adequately meet the purpose of a professional association.

Unity in Advocacy: it is important to note that each of these associations "speaks for nurses and nursing based on their mission and vision statements that are specific to the specialty's interests, goals, and purposes" (Matthews, 2012). Moreover, the different specialty groups educate healthcare administrators, policy makers, and the public on different issues (Matthews, 2012). When they collaborate, they put the healthcare sector in a better position to advance knowledge to the different stakeholders on almost all aspects of healthcare (Mason, Leavitt & Chafee, 2013). If this were to be left to one organization, some crucial aspects would be neglected.

Membership Value: professional associations are able to further enhance communication with members. This is "one of the many benefits of involving a variety of organizations in collaborative efforts" (Matthews, 2012). One of the most important rewards for professional association membership is the privilege to participate in association advocacy (Porter-O'Grady, 2011). Moreover, the value of membership increases with the provision of an increasingly secure intra-member communication network (Porter-O'Grady, 2011). Both the privilege to participate in advocacy and the capacity to secure the association's information decreases with increasing membership, which implies that one large organization would be less effective than many small associations working towards a common goal (Porter-O'Grady, 2011).

Professional Development: besides enhanced communication with members, professional associations usually "solicit scholarly manuscripts of relevance to members and publish the latest advanced knowledge in a specialty area" (Matthews, 2012). Having a single organization would imply having a larger membership, spread out across diverse specialties. Owing to the high degree of specialty diversity, it would be difficult for the organization to focus on a particular specialty and work towards professionally developing the proportion of its membership that aligns with that particular specialty, and then do the same for all other specialties (Matthews, 2012).