Professional Nursing Associations in Education, Practice & Leadership

Introduction: The Role of Professional Associations in Nursing

The nursing profession is profoundly challenging. Characterized by long hours, high levels of workplace stress, and the need to make crucial decisions whose implications significantly affect the well-being of others, nursing requires a great deal of individual skill and organizational dexterity. This is the reason for the development of the multitude of professional organizations that function as a centering point for the nursing field as a whole. Groups such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) help to provide support, networking access, information, and continuing professional development to those already in the nursing field — at the practitioner and administrative levels, respectively. Additionally, groups such as the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) and the National League for Nursing (NLN) serve in these same capacities on behalf of students on the educational path to nursing and those who provide them with instruction, respectively.

This collection of professional associations is designed to establish a point of reference across the various phases and roles reflected by the broader nursing profession, benefiting members by helping them sustain and improve practices, and benefiting the broader healthcare system by supporting a more consistent and higher quality of care. Particularly in terms of contending with the various crises in healthcare — especially the nursing shortage, which impacts all levels of the profession from education to practice — these associations constitute one of the most important forums for critical review and data-gathering.

Likewise, these associations help to provide those who have assumed leadership roles in their respective nursing contexts with a sense of connection to a larger body of professionals. This can help to instill nursing leadership with confidence in decision-making and a template for approaching specific challenges or opportunities. Serving in a leadership role is always a genuine challenge; however, that challenge takes on added importance when healthcare outcomes and lives are at stake. Therefore, for the nursing professional — and especially for the nursing professional in a position of leadership — it is useful to have access to a streamlined identification of the qualities, ideas, and characteristics that constitute current best practices.

AONE and the Development of Nursing Leadership

For nurses, different styles of leadership can be applied to the same role. However, it is important to acknowledge that such differences must be measured against a leadership standard of seemingly universal importance. A Director of Nurses, for example, must be familiar with and skilled in all capacities as a practitioner. The head nurse must also be personally prepared and willing to invest time, physical energy, and emotional energy to ensure that organizational goals are met. Naturally, this also affects the degree of respect accorded to the leader by subordinates, and both leadership effectiveness and organizational outcomes are at stake in this regard.

This is well illustrated by a consideration of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), which is distinctly positioned to assist in the development and continued effectiveness of nursing staff leaders and administrative figures. According to its website, AONE's vision "is to shape the future of health care through innovative nursing leadership. Our various guiding principles, toolkits and positions on best practice are created with the goal of developing the AONE member as a leader in collaboration and catalyst for innovation" (AONE, 1). This indicates that the primary benefit of AONE is to promote the boldness and formal training required to undertake leadership challenges in the healthcare context. To this extent, its benefits are centered on providing sources for continued professional advancement and educational growth for nurse professionals.

For instance, AONE provides documentation on how best to serve in the capacity of the Advanced Practice Nurse. An Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) complements the traditional knowledge and education of a Registered Nurse (RN) with advanced education, extended or more formalized training, and a broader body of knowledge, and is thereby groomed for a leadership role. This is a role that the nurse has evolved into based on the demands traditionally placed upon nursing staff. The development of the APN on an individual level centers on a greater-than-average investment of time in nursing education and professional development.

AONE provides a range of support opportunities designed to complement both educational and professional experiences through variously formatted, fully voluntary resources. Accordingly, AONE claims to offer members access to "a community of nurse leaders who are on the forefront of generating creative, effective ways to address the critical issues facing nursing and health care today. Members can access this knowledge through conferences, webinars, face-to-face seminars, books and publications, the AONE website and the AONE Annual Meeting and Exposition" (AONE, 1). Beyond communicating best practices, AONE is specifically intended to train individuals for leadership opportunities, applying many of the theoretical and practical aims of management to the healthcare field. As a result of their involvement, members "have numerous opportunities to make a positive contribution to the nursing profession and to realize greater success as a nurse leader," as well as to "acquire new skills in planning, managing and organizing while developing [one's] leadership potential" (AONE, 1).

ANA and Ethical Standards in Nursing Practice

APNs and other nursing leaders must serve as a centering force for a team oriented alongside physicians, family members, community members, and public or private contributors toward easing the lives of patients. Strong leadership from the APN manager is required to support the treatment process, with mutual respect for each person's role in facilitating this process becoming a crucial attribute. Taking administrative responsibility and working in partnership with communities, patients, their families, and the multidisciplinary medical team are all challenges imposed upon the leadership core of a nursing staff. AONE will have a significant impact on the degree to which this role is understood by the nurse leader.

In addition to the emphasis on interpersonal orientation and practical leadership identified as important by AONE, the ethical demands of the healthcare field are also complex. It is therefore of critical benefit to both the nursing professional and the patient community that a clearly elaborated set of ethical standards exists. The American Nurses Association (ANA) provides just such standards, which significantly aid in the decision-making and treatment processes undertaken by nurse professionals.

Ethical orientation is an important feature of a nursing team, particularly as it impacts the treatment experience for patients. Quality outcomes in the hospital environment can have an essential impact on the quality of standards perceived by patients — and this is important because quality outcomes are now understood to relate as much to patients' own perceptions and well-being as to genuine changes in clinical status. There is a clear relationship between patient perception and the standardization of ethical and appropriate practices among nurses. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities therefore benefit from developing a culture that consciously and structurally promotes a singularity of vision, mission, and ethics — and this can be manifested through involvement with associations such as the ANA.

One of the core points of importance in a professional organization serving a field as critical as nursing is that it provides an ethical center for practice, helping to quickly resolve dilemmas and prevent poor treatment outcomes. Exploring the bioethical framework endorsed by the ANA, it becomes clear that ethical deficiencies and clinical competence within a nursing staff are interrelated. The ethical disposition of a staff is directly correlated to its overall competence, and in the emergency room this distinction can have a determinant impact on the ability of the staff to preserve life and diminish pain and suffering.

An examination of the ANA's Code of Ethics reveals a direct correlation between the nurse's sense of professional integrity and the best interests of the patient. There exists an essential obligation for healthcare practitioners to "examine the conflicts arising between their own personal and professional values, the values and interests of others who are responsible for patient care and health care decisions, as well as those of the patients. Nurses strive to resolve conflicts in ways that ensure patient safety, guard the patient's best interests and preserve the professional integrity of the nurse" (ANA, 2.2). Here, an ethic is established based on the theoretical presumption that a nurse's own well-being is inextricably linked to the effective treatment of the patient.

Conclusion: Shared Benefits Across Nursing Associations

This underscores the core benefit reflected in each of the professional associations examined in this study. Namely, there is an overarching and shared interest in the betterment of both the experience of the practicing nurse and the treatment outcomes enjoyed by the patient. In each association, the benefits are intended to extend beyond membership — or more accurately, to be channeled through membership and thus proliferated into the field of practice.