Importance of Professional Associations in Nursing

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN NURSING 1
Importance of Professional Associations in Nursing
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IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN NURSING 2
Importance of Professional Associations in Nursing
Significance of The American Academy of Pediatrics, its purpose, mission, and vision
The American Academy of Pediatrics was founded in 1930 with the main aim of
addressing the needs of children at that time. This is because the founders thought children had
special development and health needs that required better ways of dealing with them. Today its
mission is to attain optimal physical mental and social health for all people by supporting the
professional needs of its members. The vision of the association is to have all children and
adolescents achieve health mentally and physically (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2018).
Today, the membership of the association includes 58, 726 pediatricians and 4, 703 and lastly,
28,374 pediatric medical subspecialists, surgical specialist and other pediatric specialists
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2018). The academy offers several membership categories
that vary depending on the qualification of the individual. The minimum membership dues are
$88 for resident members and the highest is $544 for specialty fellows and fellow membership.
The overall benefit for its members and nurses is to create a learning environment where
practitioners can increase their skills and become better practitioners to increase quality
outcomes. Through research and education, members benefit from the association through
increased knowledge and advocating for policy issues that relate to the profession. Thus the
association specifically offers members the opportunity for further education and also new
knowledge practices through research and publications on the latest issues affecting the
profession.
The association’s role today is to further professional development of its members
through education, annual scientific meetings, publications, seminars and statements from the
council. Further, the council executes original research in different areas to promote the needs of

IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN NURSING 3
the population. It further advocates for issues like safety legislation and Medicaid policies to
increase access to care. The organization funds its activities through membership dues, medical
education revenue and support from interested parties like corporations, government agencies,
grants, and contributions.
Why it is important for a nurse in the Pediatrics specialty field to network and how the
organization creates networking opportunities for nurses
Professional networking is important in pediatrics since it allows professionals to get
involved and become engaged with other practitioners in their area of specialty. This creates
career development opportunities through learning the areas that one can engage in as a
professional. In most cases, as people work more in their area of specialty, they develop more
knowledge and learn new areas that they can invest their abilities in (Khanum, et al., 2016). For
example, technology keeps on changing thus it is important for professionals to learn the changes
taking place in their profession through networking. Further, problem-solving is the most
difficult part that practitioners try to improve every time they face new situations. Through
networking, pediatricians can learn new ways of solving patient problems thus increasing the
quality of care and clinical outcomes (Catallo, Spalding, & Haghiri-Vijeh, 2014). For example,
one practitioner can take a different approach as compared to what the other takes thus working
together and sharing knowledge increases learning.
According to Green (2015), professional bodies create networking opportunities by
bringing together different professionals within their area of specialty to increase the sharing of
knowledge and views about their field of association. One way that the association creates
networking opportunities for nurses is where practitioners meet with other nurses who are far
ahead of them in their careers thus creating an opportunity to learn from them. From Benner’s