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Nursing Associations Module
Professional Associations Make a Difference
There is power in collaboration and one of the most powerful ways to collaborate is through a professional association. A professional association brings together individuals who share similar goals, providing them a rich forum in which to share, learn, debate, and further their mission. In turn, professional associations can be, and most often are, of service to both the individual member and society at large, which benefits from their findings and programs.This is especially true for nursing-related associations, which often work to effect positive changes that can result in improved health outcomes for the whole community, such as the implementation of healthier public policies or the improvement of educational systems. In addition, nursing associations can improve the quality and scope of healthcare services by working to uphold or define industry standards, promote safety-related regulations and guidelines, and provide ongoing opportunities for professional training and continuing education.
For individual members, professional associations almost always bring direct benefits throughout all stages of a nurse’s career. For new nurses just starting out, associations provide a wealth of information and contacts useful in selecting an area of specialty and finding a path that “fits.” At the same time, associations can help mid-career and senior nurses update their knowledge and skills and hone their expertise by providing access to continuing education. And, associations provide ample opportunities to network and share information.
AIHA Identifies a Need, Commits to a Path
When first beginning its partnership programs, AIHA identified a critical need to advance the nursing profession worldwide and recognized that in many nations, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, nurses were seriously undervalued and underutilized. This marginalization of the role of nurses was not only demoralizing—and discouraged many strong candidates from entering the field—it also resulted in entire healthcare systems functioning at substandard levels.AIHA focused significant time and programmatic resources on strengthening the nursing profession in its partnership countries based on the belief that a nation’s entire healthcare system could be strengthened and public health outcomes improved by committing to this path.
There were a number of unique and effective ways AIHA worked to accomplish this goal, such as helping to form Nursing Resource Centers (NRCs), promoting nurse leadership through various programs and opportunities, and helping form and strengthen professional nursing associations.
To date, results related to all these programs have been extremely positive and encouraging. AIHA partners played significant roles in establishing new nursing associations in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. AIHA also worked closely with national, regional, and specialty-related nursing associations in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia, helping create connections between these national associations and international organizations such as the International Council of Nurses.
AIHA was in a unique position not only to assist its partners by sharing knowledge and resources, but also to learn and gather information about how best to form a nursing association in nations where this structure did not already exist. Working sometimes in an advisory role, other times as peers, and still other times as a facilitator—AIHA helped its partners access the resources they needed to expand existing associations and build new ones.
Continue reading about AIHA's Nursing Associations program.
