American Public Health Association: Nurses' Benefits and Opportunities

This report examines the American Public Health Association (APHA) and its significant benefits for nurses. The APHA, as the largest public health association, offers nurses various advantages, including discounted continuing education, access to resources like certification materials, and networking opportunities through local meetings and online forums. These networking platforms facilitate career development by providing nurses with crucial knowledge and support, enabling them to stay updated on industry trends and advancements. Furthermore, the report highlights how APHA supports nurses in maintaining professional licenses through continuing education programs, and how these programs enhance their skills in patient care. The report also references key studies to reinforce the importance of APHA for nurses' professional growth and development. This report underscores the critical role of APHA in supporting and advancing the careers of nursing professionals within the public health sector, providing them with the tools and resources needed to deliver high-quality patient care.

Running Head: AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION 1
American Public Health Association
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION 2
American Public Health Association
American Public Health Association is the largest association in the public health
profession. The organization contains main disciplines that contribute to current public health
practices. American Public Health Association has members that come both within government
organization and outside government organization (Krahn, Walker, & Correa, 2015). The
association deals with issues affecting personal and environmental health. The association aims
at achieving a smoking free society, controlling pollution and having a healthier community. Its
purpose and objective is elevating the sphere of the public health profession, caters for health of
all people in the society by educating the community of general health issues. The aim is the
provision of better enhancement of public health and top-notch health services. The vision of the
association is ensuring a healthier state in one generation.
Some of the benefits of the American Public Health Association to nurses include;
enables the nurses to access continuing education at a discounted rate. Also, the association
offers a discount on resources such as certification review materials and at times, provide a
discount on life insurance and special card offers. (Frieden, 2014) Besides, the association helps
the nurses to stay updated with news and change in their profession. The nurses benefit from
networking programs through local meetings, online forums, and conventions which get held
every year.
Networking in Public health helps nurses to develop their career by gaining fundamental
knowledge needed to move to the next level. For starters in the public health, nursing career
advancement requires that they advance their knowledge concerning the job to deliver quality
work. In the networking, process nurses develop relationship with individuals who helps them
gain more understanding about the work. Networking provides nurses with professional support,

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through the support groups made of nurse’s public health nurses helps to relieve stress. When
communicating of similar experiences contributes to productive discourse resulting in actionable
ideas to improve the system. (Hopia, Karhunen,& Heikkilä, 2017). Networking helps the nurses
get updated on nursing trends and advancement. Through exchange of information it helps to
keep nurse’s skills fresh and relevant. Through networking, nurses can get jobs. Recruitment
departments in the healthcare organization rely on employee referrals. When networking you
meet with potential employers who will help you a secure job quickly through the referral
program.
Organizations create networking opportunities for nurses through the annual conference.
These conferences get carried out every year; nurses get the best chance to network and
exchange ideas with other nurses from different parts of the country, handling the same
specialization in public health nursing. The association is creating online platforms like the
website and online forums for networking. The association arranges for local meetings that help
nurses to network; nurses’ system through seminars and convections where they gather for
teachings and updates.
The American Public health association for nurses help the nurses to access newsletters
and review materials that help them to get updated on the changes in public health practices.
Besides, the association offer continued education programs that help the individuals get updated
on the latest methods in their area of specialization. The organization makes it possible for the
nurses to access the websites and explore all the latest news about their practices. Also, the
association arranges for seminars where nurses get all updates that affect their practices and how
to implement the changes.

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The foremost opportunity for continuing education and professional development is
licensure. Nurses are required to earn a predetermined extended education hour to maintain their
professional license. For a nurse to maintain their certification, they must have continued
education which enables them gain knowledge on how to handle patients. It is through continued
education that nurses learn on the changes that have taken place in their specialization. Through
continued education from a recognized institution by the American Nurses Credentialing, the
center enables an individual to gain an excellent skill that allows them to deliver quality services
to the client.
Further, there is the other opportunity for continued education and professional
development in academia. The earned credit in college enables a nurse to use them for
continuing education requirements. The credits work out for a higher degree. Online continuing
education programs offer nurse with the opportunity to attend classes any time they are free.
(Jones & Phillips, 2016) The schedules are flexible to meet the needs of busy nurses. Nurses
engaging in professional development uses continued education to advance their knowledge.
Besides for a nurse to be promoted to the next level they must have continuing education
equipping them with knowledge needed to manage the scale.

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References
Frieden, T. R. (2014). Six components are necessary for effective public health program
implementation. American journal of public health, 104(1), 17-22.
Hopia, H., Karhunen, A., & Heikkilä, J. (2017). Growth of nurse prescribing competence:
Facilitators and barriers during education. Journal of clinical nursing, 26(19-20), 3164-3173.
Jones, B., & Phillips, F. (2016). Social work and interprofessional education in health care: A
call for continued leadership. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(1), 18-29.
Krahn, G. L., Walker, D. K., & Correa-De-Araujo, R. (2015). Persons with disabilities as an
unrecognized health disparity population. American journal of public health, 105(S2), S198-
S206.
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