The ANA Supporting EBP Standards and Concepts of the Professional Nurse
Is nursing a profession? Nursing has made advances through the years to classify itself as a profession. Looking at the different organizations that have helped this process, one stands out above the rest. The ANA (American Nursing Association) has given the nursing a professional identity and voice. The following essay will look at the ANA’s aims, activities, how the organization supports the EBP (evidence based practice), and the concepts of professional nursing.
ANA (American Nursing Association) aims and activities
What is the purpose of the ANA? The main goal of the ANA is that it “advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of…show more content… The professional nurse is described in the following concepts: caring, communication, critical thinking, professionalism and wholism. Caring is defined as nurturing and helping others (Chitty & Black, 2007). Nurses not only show compassion to their patients but to each other. How many times have you walked into a patient’s room and found the nurse at the bedside holding their hand or even them as they cry. This is one way that the nurse show she cares for that patients. Nurses nurture their own through preceptor and mentoring programs of new nurses.
The second characteristic of nursing is communication. Nurses communicate constantly. Not only do they communicate with patients, each other, but other disciplines. They must be skilled in communication to get their points. There can be no misunderstanding when it comes to what the patient needs, communicating test results, or explaining the plan of care to the…show more content… There are several factors that are taken in account when determining nursing professionalism. The first one is the high degree of responsibility Chitty & Black, 2007). This is defined in the code of ethics for nursing. The American Nursing Association produces the code of ethics. There is a body of knowledge that is based and refine through research (Chitty & Black, 2007). This is known today as evidence based practice. The professional can be taught through a highly specialized education (Chitty & Black, 2007). Nurses today are able to advance their degrees from associate, bachelor and master degrees in specialized areas of nursing. Through the ANA nurses are able to obtain certification in their chosen specialty. The last step in a professionalism is highly developed organization (Chitty & Black, 2007). There are many different organization that nurses are able to become a part of. The one I chose to discus in this essay is the American Nursing Association