American Association Of Critical Care Nurse - Management Assignment

American Association of Critical-Care Nurse

The American Association of Critical Care Nurse (AACN) is an organization that represents nurses whom are responsible in caring for acutely and critically ill patients. The organization strives develop guidelines and resources for critical care nurses to provide optimal care to their patients. The AACN is the largest nursing organization representing over 500,000 nurses (www.aacn.org), and over the years has developed countless benefits that nurses can utilize to further their career.

Benefits

One of the outstanding benefits of AACN is they offer free unlimited continuing education (CE) credits. Having over 300 to choose from, the AACN allows the nurse to constantly further their education, weather required by the employer, or just as a way for the nurse to gain knowledge, there are numerous opportunities to do so. Their website allows the nurse to track all of their CE credits, review every seminar individually, and provided them with a printable PDF transcript for the nurses' records. The AACN also provides grants and scholarships for students and current nurses to advance their education in a scholar environment. The AACN believes this provides nurses to fill gaps in their education, enriching their careers and knowledge beyond basic nursing education. Another advantage to being a member of the AACN is the nurse has access to literature and information available to only AACN members. This is huge if you are a critical care nurse as it keeps you up to date on knowledge-based practice. Finally, some of the other benefits include; discounted certification exams, discounted journal subscriptions, insurance opportunities, and even discounted veterinary insurance for your pet.

Membership Cost

An “active” membership to AACN starts at $78.00 and becomes discounted with every additional year, ending at $211.00 for 3 years. The membership includes a 1 year subscription to Critical Care Nurse, and American Journal of Critical Care, after which can be renewed on a yearly basis. There are also memberships available for nonprofessional nurses (LPN and LVN) and students at a discounted rate, which includes everything except the ability to vote within the organization. Every nurse could benefit from being a member of the AACN, after all, well rounded nurses' make the best nurses'.

Journals

The two journals associated with AACN, Critical Care Nurse and American Journal of Critical Care are resources that nurses can use to apply to their career. The American Journal of Critical Care, is a 6 issue per year journal, who is “mission is to provide its readers with clinically relevant content in every issue and to serve as a vehicle for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses to achieve its mission of improving the care of critically ill patients and their families” (www.ajcc.aacnjournals.org). Then, there is Critical Care Nurse, which is also a 6 issue per year strives to “provide critical care and acute care nurses with accurate, relevant, and useful information concerning the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients and to keep critical and acute care nurses informed on issues that affect their practice.” (www.ccn.aacnjournals.org). Both journals can be beneficial, and can be subscribed to separately than the AACN if desired.

Certifications

Although a nurse does not have to be certified to be a member of the AACN, they have to option of taking of one of the following exams; Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN), Progressive Care Nursing Certification (PCCN), Cardiac Medicine Subspecialty (CMC), Cardiac Surgery Subspecialty (CSC), Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNPC), Acute Care Clinical Nurse Specialist (CCNS), and Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML). Their most common certification awarded is the CCRN, which is preferred by many hospitals for their ICU, and Critical Care nurses. CCRN exam can be taken by any RN that has had at least 1,750 hours at the bedside of a critically ill patient (www.aacn.org). Then, if a nurse wanted further their education to a Masters degree, ACNP may be of interest. An ACNP will often work in an Emergency Department, seeing less critical patients, taking the demand off the Physicians. This saves hospitals money, and decreases Emergency Department waiting times.

Why I would Join

There are several reasons why I would want to be a member of such a dynamic organization. For starters it is really important that I am always maintaining a current, high-level of education. The science of healthcare delivery is always changing, so I strongly believe an educated and informed nurse is a better nurse. Also I want to become a Critical Care Registered Nurse, and eventually work towards CRNA or ACNP, and I really feel this organization will keep me on the forefront of my career. I would also enjoy reading the journals, and utilizing their online book store.

Conclusion

The AACN is an excellent organization for every nurse, regardless of their specialty. For a reasonable annual fee, nurses can keep up to date on everything critical care, with utilization of journals, the website, and continuing education credits. It is organizations like the AACN that keep nurses on top of their game, and providing the best care possible.

Order a Custom Assignment