To advance and promote the improvement of health standards and the standards of nursing and to stimulate and promote the professional development of nurses and advance their economic and general welfare.[1]
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6)professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911.[3] It is based in Silver Spring, Maryland[4] and Jennifer Mensik Kennedy[2] is the current president.
The ANA states nursing is 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.[5]
History
19th century
Initial organizational plans were made for the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States of America on September 2, 1896, at Manhattan Beach Hotel near New York City.[6] On February 11–12, 1897 those plans were ratified in Baltimore at a meeting that coincided with the annual conference of the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses.[7]Isabel Hampton Robb served as the first president. A major early goal of the organization was the enhancement of nursing care for American soldiers.[8]
ICN was founded in 1899 by nursing organizations from Great Britain, the ANA for the United States, and Germany as charter members. The first ever ICN Congress was held in Buffalo New York in 1901.[9]
20th century
In 1947, the next congress, the Ninth ICN Quadrennial Congress in 1947, was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Attended by over 5,000 delegates representing 250,000 nurses in 32 countries, it was a major step forward in re-establishing international peacetime relations in the healthcare community. ANA leadership made all arrangements including locating lodgings for attendees among local residents, and raising funds to cover travel costs.[10][11][note 1][13]
In 1970, Mattiedna Johnson spoke at an ANA convention on the lack of representation of African American nurses. She believed it was a major issue which led to the founding of National Black Nurses Association in 1971.
The association is a professional organization representing registered nurses (RNs) in the United States through its 54 constituent member associations.[15] The ANA is involved in establishing standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, advancing the economic and general welfare of nurses.[16]
Statements by ANA have been featured in publications arguing against mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios. The American Nurses Association says it has “real concerns about the establishment of fixed
nurse-to-patient ratio numbers.” [17]
The ANA also has three subsidiary organizations, the American Academy of Nursing, formed to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge, the American Nurses Foundation, the charitable and philanthropic arm, and the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which credentials nurses in their specialty and credentials facilities that exhibit nursing excellence.[18]
