NANN & Neonatal Nursing: Benefits, Education, and Professional Growth

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN), a specialty organization dedicated to supporting and advancing neonatal nurses. It explores NANN's mission, values, and goals, highlighting the numerous membership benefits such as access to clinical resources, educational discounts, professional development opportunities, and networking platforms. The essay emphasizes the importance of networking for nurses, particularly in neonatal care, and details how NANN facilitates information dissemination through events, newsletters, journals, and online forums. Furthermore, it examines NANN's commitment to continuing education and professional development, including conferences, educational products, research grants, and scholarships. The analysis concludes that NANN offers invaluable resources and opportunities for neonatal nurses to enhance their knowledge, skills, and professional growth, making it an essential association for nurses in this specialty.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL NURSING ANALYSIS
Professional nursing analysis
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PROFESSIONAL NURSING ANALYSIS
Introduction:
Nursing is undoubtedly one of the noblest profession, which is associated with
professional care service delivery to help and assist the sick and ailing of the society. There
are various different forms of nursing and each kind addresses a set of singular
responsibilities and scope of practice (Hoeve, Jansen & Roodbol, 2014). These different
domains within which the nurse’s area of practice is centered around is also known as
specialty areas. The organization and its significance has a profound role for the nurses in the
specialty area (Kaye, 2016). This essay will explore the organization, the National association
of neonatal nurses, and will discuss the benefits, organizational policy and culture,
information dissemination, and opportunity for continual education with respect to neonatal
nurses.
Description of the organization:
The organization chosen for the review in this case is the National Association of
Neonatal Nurses or NANN, a specialty organization focused entirely on the neonatal nurses.
The organization recognizes itself as the voice for the neonatal nurses. NANN is committed
entirely to the development of the neonatal nurses so that they can easily advance their career
and continue to evolve in their profession (NANN, 2019). The organization is a community
or registered nurses within the neonatal specialty area, that are providing care services for
newborn infants with a variety of health challenges, including prematurity, birth defects,
infection, cardiac malformations, and surgical problems. The mission statement for the
organization is to be a professional voice for the neonatal nurses helping shape the neonatal
nursing care service delivery, through excellence in practice, education, research, and
professional development.
Considering the organizational values of the NANNP, they prioritize ethics and
professionalism, lifelong learning, fiduciary responsibility, collegiality, excellence in

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practice, advocating quality patient and family based care, and lastly, trust and transparency.
The goals of the organization include education, research and transition, advocacy, and
membership engagement. There are various membership benefits for the NANN, which
allows the members to belong to the premier professional organization dedicated to support,
educate, and improve neonatal nurses and their scope of practice (NANN, 2019). They
provide support for the daily practice of the nurses through neonatal nursing education,
professional development opportunities, and advocacy efforts. The neonatal nurses gain
immense benefits from joining the organization, including unmatched access to the prime
clinical and professional resources, including developmental care and thermoregulation to
staffing and training, all throughout their career. The members also have been reported to
receive discounts on educational products and resources, and events including the annual
conferences held by the organization as well. The members are also provided timely updates
on the latest clinical, professional, and neonatal advocacy news, as well as information on
leadership and scholarship programs. Lastly, and most importantly, there are a countless
opportunities provided to the members of the organization to partake in neonatal networking,
collaborating, and volunteering, to improve patient care scenario in the specialty area of
neonatal nursing (NANN, 2019).
Importance of networking:
Networking is a very important aspect of nursing, across all domains, and neonatal
nursing is not an exception to that either. Networking allows the nurses to collaborate with a
varied range of professionals, organizations and support centers, to not only evolve in terms
of knowledge and expertise, but also identify personal strengths and weaknesses, and
identifying the latest trends on neonatal care. There are limitless opportunities provided
during networking events, with the face to face interaction, the nurses get the chance to
highlight their skills and expertise to various organizations (Montalvo, 2015). The nurses also

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PROFESSIONAL NURSING ANALYSIS
get to meet likeminded nurses that have suffered through the similar struggles ambitions,
gaining insight onto the latest trends, coping strategies, and most importantly, how nursing is
changing as a profession.
Information dissemination:
Dissemination of the neonatal nursing related information is one of the most
important role or responsibility served by the organization. They arrange for various different
events, newsletters and bimonthly journals, provided to each and every member regarding
the current neonatal nursing news and NANN position statements. Along with that, the
members of the NANN also get a discounted registration to the specialty meetings and annual
conference where the nurses not just get the excellent opportunity to network, but also get the
chance to witness and know all the new changes being brought forth in the context of
neonatal nursing. There is also a MyNANN community forum, especially for the organization
members, which provides the nurses an excellent platform to discuss protocols, best
practices, and latest news in the field (NANN, 2019).
Opportunities for continuing education and professional development:
One of the key goals of NANN as an organization is provide the scope for education
and professional development to the neonatal nurses. The organization also helps in the
members earning continuing education credits, maintain the certification and keep up with
the latest and innovative best practice trends in the neonatal nursing. The annual conference
provides the nurses with the platform to engage themselves in latest neonatal nursing trends
and the education products including best clinical, developmental, and evidence-based
products and resources support the neonatal nurses continue to expand their knowledge and
expertise (NANN, 2019). There are also professional development products for the neonatal
nurses to focus and there are also researching opportunities including NANN’s annual
research summit and small grant programs. There are also various scholarships provided to

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the nurses including NIWI, NLF, and APRN membership scholarship. Lastly, the
organization also provides online learning opportunities to the neonatal nurses so that they
can learn whenever and wherever they want (NANN, 2019).
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be stated that the organization provides unlimited
opportunities for the neonatal nurses to evolve in their own professional roles and scope of
practice, along with providing endless opportunities to expand their horizon by learning,
researching and networking. Their membership benefits can be attributed to a never-ending
list, lending a helping hand to the neonatal nurses in every aspect possible. Hence, this is a
very important professional association for the nurses and each and every neonatal nurse
must take this opportunity to evolve taking their humble and robust assistance.

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References:
Hoeve, Y. T., Jansen, G., & Roodbol, P. (2014). The nursing profession: public image, self‐
concept and professional identity. A discussion paper. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 70(2), 295-309.
Kaye, S. (2016). Historical Trends in Neonatal Nursing. The Journal of perinatal & neonatal
nursing, 30(3), 273-276.
Montalvo, W. (2015). Political skill and its relevance to nursing: an integrative
review. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(7/8), 377-383.
NANN. (2019). Member Benefits | NANN. [online]. Retrieved from
http://nann.org/membership/member-benefits [Accessed 6 Feb. 2019].
NANN. (2019). About | NANN. [online] Available at: http://nann.org/about/national-
association-of-neonatal-nurses [Accessed 6 Feb. 2019].
NANN. (2019). Education | NANN. [online] Available at: http://nann.org/education/neonatal-
learning [Accessed 6 Feb. 2019].
NANN. (2019). Educational Products | NANN. [online] Available at:
http://nann.org/education/educational-products [Accessed 6 Feb. 2019].
NANN. (2019). Professional Development | NANN. [online] Available at:
http://nann.org/professional-development/advancing-neonatal-careers [Accessed 6
Feb. 2019].