Mission, Leadership, Benefits and Costs, Political Agenda, and Why Choose?
This persuasive essay aims to convince the readers of why fellow students should choose one of the following professional organizations: American Association of Nurse Practioners (AANP), National Association of Nurse Practioners in Womens Health (NANPWH), or Association of Womens Health, Obstretic and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN).
General discussion
I would primarily recommend my fellows to join the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) as it is the largest and full-cycle service nationwide professional membership organization involving nurse practitioners of various specialties. AANP serves a remarkable value to all its members. Here you will get increased knowledge, professional advocacy, career opportunities, as well as substantial benefits and savings.
The scope of organizational coverage is apparently more extensive compared to other two professional organizations National Association of Nurse Practioners in Womens Health (NANPWH) and Association of Womens Health, Obstretic and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) which names only assume membership limitations.
AANP mission statement calls for leading nursing practitioners in revolutionizing the reality of patient-centered healthcare. Corporate vision consists in providing high quality healthcare for all patients in need. Joining AANP is a must for every nursing practitioner since the organization is an acknowledged leader in advocacy, continual education and professional growth for more than 48 000 members (American Association of Nurse Practioners 2014).
By joining AANP everyone will personally benefit from the organizational leadership structure. The integrity of AANP assumes such core prerequisites of nursing practice as: personal accountability, mutual trust and transparency, adherence to ethical commitments, mutual respect and reliability.
Based on flexible model of leadership, organizational excellence is achieved by meeting expectations and exceeding them, continuous advancement, pursuing ‘best practices’ approach, and promotion of premium quality outcomes. Organizational leadership model is three-fold, namely: visionary, proactive, and innovative. Corporate approach to nursing practice is foremost grounded on professionalism, personal accountability, inclusivity, high working discipline, and integrity within the profession. Such dedicated approach enables AANP render enduring commitment to patients, members, and communities (American Association of Nurse Practioners 2014).
Based on these solid foundations AANP has become an influential voice of the nursing practitioners since 1985. The organization currently represents the interests and concerns of more than 189,000 nursing practitioners on a nationwide scale. Active role and position of nursing practitioners has resulted in comprehensive and cost-effective patient-oriented healthcare.
The benefits of AANP professional membership involve free of charge updates on healthcare topics, continual education activities, advocacy of practitioners’ interests, and provision of all the necessary resources to secure continual professional growth of nursing practitioners (American Association of Nurse Practioners 2014).
For annual registration fee of $125 each member is entitled to cost preferences and discounts assumed by organizational membership policies, including: free of charge access to more than continuing education activities; $75 discount on the application for AANP Certification program; exclusive membership preferences health insurance, on professional liability, long term care plans and disability income provided by the associate organization Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC; $50 discount on the online PQRSwizard linked to Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS); discount registration at AANP National Conference including nursing practitioners of all specialties; free registration on the web-based locator service for nursing practitioners NPFinder.com; and free access to AANP online Career Link matching nursing practitioners and employers; free of charge subscription opportunities, and scholarship and grant programs (American Association of Nurse Practioners 2014).
For starting/professional APRN these benefits and costs are of ultimate importance as members get access to various opportunities assumed by the profession through AANP support. For me, all these professional advantages mean further education, growth and development as high-skilled nursing practitioner. At a single point I get ultimate access to the vast array of resources, contacts and other useful information to enable my professional expertise.
Advocacy and wide policy action explain why AANP is the premium organization for nursing practitioners of all specialties. It is foremost a community of progressively-thinking and open-minded professionals that promote the image and significance of the profession through practical actions and expertise. AANP has established close-knit collaboration with state and federal policymakers to make healthcare more advanced and accessible and get rid of outdated and ineffective healthcare regulations and laws. In the course of policymaking AANP pursues full-fledged assistance and professional support to every patient who requires nursing assistance. AANP educates, trains and prepares nursing practitioners to match the needs of patients. The organization possesses an extensive toolbox for policy advocacy to meet vast array of policy needs. AANP grounds its effective advocacy on strong relationships through essential advocacy-building tools. AANP membership is concentrated on professional education, effective policies and regulations, and effective patient care. Political agenda of AANP involves elaboration of joint statements together with its members, smart use of its core strategic resources, and wider policy analysis (American Association of Nurse Practioners 2014).
After reviewing the current policies and practices of National Association of Nurse Practioners in Womens Health (NANPWH) and Association of Womens Health, Obstretic and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), AANP seems the perfect match as namely this organization provides its members with the vast array of professional and development opportunities, benefits and savings. Most importantly, AANP has influence on nursing practice and policymaking in the area of professional healthcare provision. To a large extent, its policy advocacy designates the current state of affairs in the profession and makes nursing practitioners genuine professionals in the field.
The provided summary and comprehensive analysis involves various reasons why nursing practitioners shall join AANP and use organizational benefits for he sake of individual growth in particular and enhancement of the role of the profession as a whole.
- American Association of Nurse Practioners (2014). “NP Policy Essentials”, Retrieved January 30, 2014 from http://www.aanp.org/
- American Association of Nurse Practioners (2014). “Membership/Benefits”, Retrieved January 30, 2014 from http://www.aanp.org/membership
