Nursing Associations Membership

Do you keep your ANA membership active on both the state and national level? Also, for foreign nurses; do you keep both (ANA and home country) nursing association membership active?

Im just curious on what are the benefits from keeping them as they do require payment of fees.

Mine lapsed already and have been thinking of not renewing it in the near future because of the fees.

Share your thoughts! �
I keep ANA and ANNA memberships active but I am unable to keep RCN in the UK current as they dont transfer oversea's.I keep them uptodate as I like to keep myself abreast of changes within the profession. Remember they are also tax deductable so that is a positive benefit as well.

I've never had an ANA membership... I'm not sure what the benefit would be.

I've been a member but just for once, so I can list it in my resume when I was applying for work.

my ANA lapsed but I'm looking into ENA instead, can't really afford both right now

"Numbers" are the only real political power nurses have. In theory, belonging to our professional organization (the ANA at one time) makes real political sense, even if nurses don't do it. Nationally, less than 6% of nurses support the ANA. Considering how the ANA has been corrupted away from a bedside nurse focus, this makes sense, and nursing leadership has failed to react appropriately.The newly emerging political powerhouse, the NNU, offers nurses a real chance for political empowerment. It is already larger than the ANA, and growing. Nurses, particularly bedside nurses, can readily identify with it's focus on real practice issues like staffing ratios, pay, facility empowerment, etc.. You know, the real things nurses care about in order to provide safe cae to their patients.The ANA has been, and continues to be, a real disappointment for working nurses. The leadership of ANA has lost touch with the core of the profession, although there are many rhetorical things the ANA does that are noteworthy, such as the Code of Ethics. The leadership of the ANA is comprised almost entirely of academics and nurse managers. Compare that with the bedside nurse leadership of the NNU and you can see why nurses identify with the NNU more than the ANA.We need to deal with this as a profession if we want to heal these fracture lines in nursing. The AONE has been a dismal failure as a nursing leaderhsip organization, and remains the servant of it's parenting organization, the AHA. The AHA already has enough political influence for 6 organizations. Between the detached academics and the traitors from the AONE, nursing is virtually without leadership. The NNU represents a real hope to cross this chasm.I belong to the ANA in the great hope that they will get off the fence on some of these crucial bedside nurse and re-emerge as the professional organization they should be.I belong to the CNA/NNOC because, at $30/year, I believe in their message and this is ridiculously affordable. I encourage ALL nurses to support their cause. We have to wait and see how their larger message of single payer plays out politically, but that will be some time down the road before that becomes a major issue again. In the meantime, let's concentrate on the one organizaiton that is actually doing something to empower bedside nurses- the NNU.

NNU is a UNION, not a professional organization. Professional organizations offer journals and try to enrich the profession. Unions are considered by many, including myself, to represent more NON-professional (albeit licensed) nurses.I do not agree with a lot ANA says - but my membership gives me the right to vote. Also, as a member of my state chapter I have the ability to influence nursing practice, participate in legislative ventures and be a voice for nursing. Beats sitting around wishing SOMEONE would do something.

I'm not a member of the ANA, but I am a member of my specialty organization the AORN. I really feel like I get a lot out of my membership with them. They have a really good (and relevant) monthly publication that keeps me up to date on what is going on in my field. They also have a good on-line site that is useful for networking and getting professional questions answered, etc. They have local monthly meetings also, but my schedule never seems to allow me to attend.

Quote from classicdameNNU is a UNION, not a professional organization. Professional organizations offer journals and try to enrich the profession. Unions are considered by many, including myself, to represent more NON-professional (albeit licensed) nurses.I do not agree with a lot ANA says - but my membership gives me the right to vote. Also, as a member of my state chapter I have the ability to influence nursing practice, participate in legislative ventures and be a voice for nursing. Beats sitting around wishing SOMEONE would do something.

I have looked into joining the ANA but I am sorry to say that many of the issues that the ANA favors many issues that I oppose. I am a very politically active person. I have attended rallies at the state level. I have joined other organizations to lend my voice to their cause. Unfortunately, the ANA feels it is their job to endorse things that I oppose. That is the reason, in my opinion, the ANA has only 5% of the nurses as members. They need to stick to what affects the job. Why does the ANA have a position on abortion, gun control, or presidential candidates? I will not lend my voice to an organization that is opposed to my views on these matters.