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Forging New Frontiers Through Partnering!
by ANNA President Suzann VanBuskirk
"We
cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a
thousand invisible threads…our actions run as causes and return to us
as results.”
Herman Melville
ANNA
recently celebrated its 36th anniversary as a professional nursing
association during its annual meeting in Las Vegas. Beth Ulrich’s
editorial in the March-April 2004 issue of Nephrology Nursing Journal
described ANNA as “moving forward as an organization” and provided
readers with a history of nephrology beginning in 1827 and a
corresponding 35-year timeline of ANNA’s successful interface with this
history.
During
the past 36 years, we have witnessed an increased globalization of
commerce, travel, information, trade, terrorism, and disease.
People, messages, and images move around the world at lightening speed,
and we sense that we are part of a global community. As part of
this new “community,” ANNA has a professional obligation to understand
it in a broader context and to base our decision making and resource
allocation on a broader understanding of ourselves, our patients, and
our circumstances.
The Power of Partnerships
In
her March-April 2005 editorial, Dr. Ulrich described the power of
partnering for nurses and patients. Partnering has served ANNA well
over the years as our association has reached out far beyond our
patients to become active in collaboration and coalition building. The
following groups are a representative sample of the many and varied
strategic alliances in which ANNA has been active:
• Kidney Care Partners
– a coalition of kidney disease stakeholders representing
professionals, providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and patient
support organizations, KCP is active is lobbying on the federal level
for many issues impacting our practice and the patients for which we
care.
• Nursing Organizations Alliance
– comprised of 65 nursing organizations, the Alliance represents the
interests of nursing organizations through communication,
collaboration, education, and advocacy.
• Renal Physicians Association
– ANNA continues to forge its important relationship with this
physician organization on collaborative opportunities such as a
conference for nursing practitioners on patient management to follow
our Fall Meeting in Kansas City and ESRD Education Week.
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Forum of ESRD Networks
continue to be strong partners for ANNA through formal and informal
dialogue, representation at meetings, and on advisory boards.
ANNA Partners with ANA
In
May, with guidance from Past President Caroline Counts, ANNA embarked
upon another important step toward expanding its relationships and
exploring opportunities within the complex health care environment by
seeking organizational affiliate (OA) membership in ANA (the American
Nurses Association). The following nursing organizations have
been OA members of ANA since 2003 by-law changes strengthened OA rights
and participation:
1. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
2. American Association of Nurse Anesthetists
3. American Psychiatric Nurses Association
4. Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
5. Association of Rehabilitation Nurses
6. Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses
7. Emergency Nurses Association
8. Oncology Nursing Society
In addition, 4 other nursing organizations, the Association of Nurses
in AIDS Care (ANAC), the National Association of Clinical Nurse
Specialists (NACNS), the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association
(PCNA), and the Wound Ostomy & Continence Nurses Society (WOCNS)
have become new organizational affiliates, bringing the current total
to 13.
The rights of an organizational affiliate include representation in the
ANA House of Delegates and liaison representation to the Congress on
Nursing Practice and Economics and to the ANA Board of Directors.
Other organizational benefits include complimentary copies of ANA
publications and exhibit discounts as well as primary consideration for
sending nursing representatives at assorted events where ANA is
invited. As ANNA’s delegate to the ANA House of Delegates held June
17-19 in Washington, DC, I was proud (if not somewhat overwhelmed) to
represent our association for the first time as an organizational
affiliate. Further by-law changes made during the meeting
strengthened the rights of the specialty organizations to draw them
closer to ANA to make the association more inclusive of nurses across
the country to strengthen its voice on nursing’s issues. For more than
100 years, ANA has been THE voice for registered nurses nationwide. It
continues to reshape itself to better represent the evolving face of
professionals and better meet the changing needs of individual nurses.
ANNA has also sought recognition from ANA as a Nursing Specialty. In
June, Past President Caroline Counts and NNJ Editor/Past President Beth
Ulrich prepared an extensive and impressive document tracing the
history and activities of our association to address ANA’s 14 specialty
recognition criteria. This document is currently under review by ANA’s
Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics with an expected response
due sometime in late summer.
In summary, the ANNA Board of Directors feels that the OA membership
and specialty nursing recognition through ANA will advance our advocacy
goal and allow our association to monitor key issues impacting all
nurses, provide for increased opportunities for collaboration with
other disciplines to ensure success, and bring our own expertise in
nephrology nursing to the forefront in the more global world of nursing.
Suzann VanBuskirk, BSN, RN, CNN
ANNA President
Member, Baltimore Chapter
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