American Nurses Association's Impact On The Nursing Profession

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has made a profound impact on the nursing profession—education, practice, and health policies. It defines nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (What is Nursing?). Nurses are the backbone to patient care and serve as the medium that pulls the health team together so that communication is fluid, all the while advocating for the patient. Essentially, nurses are the primary health care provider that provides education for patients and their families for which, provides continuity of care and a better health outcome. As a direct result of this it is the responsibility of nurses to keep up-to-date on the knowledge of new trends in nursing education, practice, and health care policies.
Nurses are fortunate to have the ANA offer many avenues for their continued education in the nursing practice. These avenues include offering a journal with Continuing Education (CE) opportunities, scheduled conferences, and a web-based catalog of PowerPoint presentations. All of these avenues of learning enables nurses to earn CEUs that go toward keeping their nursing license in good standing, so that they may continue to practice. It is vital that nurses realize that education in this field of practice is a career long process and that in order to provide quality patient care they must remain up-to-date with their