ANA and AMA: Standards, Functions, and Public Safety
This paper examines two major American healthcare professional organizations — the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) — analyzing their structures, functions, professional standards, and public protection methods. It identifies each board's primary focus, summarizes their respective ethical codes and practice standards, compares similarities and differences between those standards, and explores how conflicts between them are resolved. The paper also evaluates the advocacy, legislative, and educational mechanisms each organization employs to uphold professional conduct and safeguard the public. Together, the ANA and AMA represent complementary pillars of professional accountability in the U.S. healthcare system.
- Introduction: Overview of professional healthcare organizations and paper scope
- Identification of the Professional Boards: Profiles of the ANA and AMA and their memberships
- Functions, Primary Focus, and Activities of Each Board: Core missions and activities of both organizations
- Professional Standards: Similarities, Differences, and Conflicts: Ethical codes, practice standards, and conflict resolution
- Methods for Protecting the Public: Advocacy, legislation, and public safety mechanisms
- Conclusion: Summary of both organizations' complementary roles
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper maintains a clear parallel structure throughout, addressing each organization under the same thematic headings — making comparisons easy to follow and analytically coherent.
- It draws on primary organizational sources alongside peer-reviewed literature (e.g., Riddick, 2003; Sonfield, 2005), lending credibility to its claims about ethical standards.
- The conflict-resolution section effectively integrates both organizations' positions to show where they converge on patient autonomy and informed consent, strengthening the comparative argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates systematic comparative analysis: each major theme (functions, standards, public protection) is addressed for both organizations in turn, allowing the reader to draw direct parallels and contrasts. This technique avoids the common pitfall of treating the two bodies in isolation and instead builds an integrated picture of how they interact within the U.S. healthcare landscape.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction establishing the importance of professional healthcare organizations, then identifies the ANA and AMA individually. Subsequent sections address functions, professional standards (including ethical codes and conflict resolution), and public protection mechanisms. Each section uses subheadings to separate the two organizations before synthesizing their approaches. The paper closes by reinforcing the significance of both boards to patient safety and professional accountability.
Introduction
Healthcare professionals offer their services to the community whilst taking care to fully respect people's dignity. Doctors need to earn public confidence by dedicating their skills equally and to the best of their ability. A number of professional organizations exist to support doctors in ensuring public safety; two of the most prominent are the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Medical Association (AMA). In this paper, the standards and functions of both organizations are analyzed.
Identification of the Professional Boards
The ANA represents its 3.6-million-strong registered nurse (RN) workforce's interests. Its goal is to advance the profession of nursing through the promotion of superior practice standards (American Nurses Association, 2016). The AMA, meanwhile, is a professional organization chiefly engaged in publishing studies geared at advancing public health, in addition to advocating for licensed doctors' interests. It is active in areas such as Affordable Care Act implementation, healthcare IT, Medicare and Medicaid, improvements in care delivery quality, and patient safety. Resident doctors, medical students, and all licensed physicians are entitled to apply for AMA membership (Rouse, 2015).
Functions, Primary Focus, and Activities of Each Board
ANA
The ANA represents the nation's only full-service agency that speaks for the entire RN workforce in America. In all settings — including Congress, boardrooms, federal-level organizations, and healthcare centers such as hospitals — this organization serves as nurses' strongest voice. It supports a secure, ethical, and fair workplace, promotes nursing staff members' wellness and health, and supports its members and the broader society on healthcare matters that concern them. It also assumes a leading position in improving healthcare quality for all citizens of the nation (American Nurses Association, 2016).
The organization plays a central role in healthcare reform-related policy initiatives. Priority issues include: a streamlined health infrastructure capable of effectively delivering primary care within community settings; facilitating improvements to the overall healthcare environment; a larger role for RNs and advanced practice RNs (APRNs) in primary and basic healthcare delivery; and securing federal grants for nursing education and training (American Nurses Association, 2016).
AMA
Among the AMA's responsibilities is petitioning governmental health-division organizations — such as the National Health IT Coordinator and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) — on health IT matters. From time to time, the organization also collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other entities to request reforms or improvements to current health policies affecting patients and the routine work of the nation's healthcare workforce (Rouse, 2015).
The AMA defines its mission as informing healthcare professionals of advances in the health sector, ensuring better disease prevention, and effectively delivering healthcare to maintain a healthier nation (Rouse, 2015). It also disseminates research and practical data to doctors and the community, and conducts a wide array of healthcare educational programs through presentations, speeches, and mass media. The agency keeps its members informed of key regulations and laws, and acts as their representative before both houses of Congress and government organizations. Lastly, the AMA aids in establishing standards for internship programs and medical colleges, and works to identify and alert community members about fraudulent practitioners and unproven remedies (American Medical Association, 2016).
Conclusion
Healthcare professionals serve the community while upholding respect for human dignity. The ANA and AMA each play indispensable roles in advancing professional standards, advocating for their respective memberships, and safeguarding public health. While the two organizations differ in the populations they represent — nurses and physicians, respectively — they converge on core values such as patient autonomy, ethical practice, and quality care. Understanding the functions and standards of both organizations is essential for anyone working within or studying the U.S. healthcare system.
References
American Medical Association. (2016). Innovation to improve health care. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from
American Medical Association. (2016). What we do. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from https://www.ama-assn.org/about/what-we-do
American Medical Association (AMA) — American organization. (2016). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Medical-Association
American Nurses Association. (2016). About ANA. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from http://www.nursingworld.org/Functionalmenucategories/Aboutana
American Nurses Association. (2016). Statement of purpose. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from
American Nurses Association. (2016). Professional standards. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from
ANA defends the high standard of care advanced practice nurses provide in retail-based clinics. (2007). Retrieved November 4, 2016, from
Riddick, F. A., Jr. (2003). The code of medical ethics of the American Medical Association. The Ochsner Journal, 5(2), 6–10.
Rouse, M. (2015, March). What is American Medical Association (AMA)? Retrieved November 4, 2016, from http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/American-Medical-Association-AMA
Sonfield, A. (2005). Rights vs. responsibilities: Professional standards and provider refusals. The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 8(3), 7–9.
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