About The Academy Of Medical Surgical Nurses
The Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses or AMSN as it is frequently called exists to promote excellence in medical surgical nursing. It mission and vision are as follows:
Mission
“The AMSN mission is to promote excellence in medical-surgical nursing”.
Vision
“Medical-surgical nurses use their powerful voice and focused action to continuously improve patient care”.
Benefits Of Membership
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses offers a number of benefits, as do most other nursing organizations. The benefits offered exist to enhance the profession as well as to advance your own career.
As an AMSN member, you will be able to read MEDSURG Nursing an invaluable journal for individuals in the nursing profession who are dedicated to expanding their knowledge and making the most of their careers. In addition you will have access to MedSurg Matters, the newsletter, as well as MedSurg Nursing Connection, the e-newsletter. These subscriptions are included in your membership fees, so there will be no additional charges. Literature such as this serves to keep you up to date with what is happening in the field of nursing throughout the country. By ensuring that you remain up to date with the latest news and developments you are increasing your marketability as a nurse. Employers look for individuals who are in the know and up to date in the field. In addition to these publications there are also a number of books and CD ROMS available for members:
- Core Curriculum for Medical-Surgical Nursing, 4th Edition, 2009
- Certification Review Course & Overview CD-ROM
- Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Review: A Self-Study Program
- Self-Study Program Combo (includes CD and Self-Study Program listed above)
- Medical-Surgical Nursing Review Questions
- Scope and Standards of Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice, 5th Edition (2012) (Acrobat)
- Scope and Standards of Medical-Surgical Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice, 2nd Edition (2012) (Acrobat)
It is necessary for nurses to earn CNE contact hours every year in order to maintain their licenses. Through the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses you will have the opportunity to earn free CNE contact hours in the AMSN Online Library. The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses hosts an annual convention which you will be able to attend at a member discount once you have completed the membership sign up process. The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses has a number of study resources available for nurses to purchase which will assist them in doing well on their exams. As a member you will be able to purchase AMSN study resources to advance your knowledge and prepare for certification, at member discounts. AMSN has a Career Center on its website through which you will have access to a number of excellent job opportunities. The most important aspect of this service is perhaps that the jobs will all be local for your specific region. This saves you time and brings your attention to only those jobs directly relevant to you. There are a number of opportunities for members of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses to apply for scholarships, awards, and grants. These opportunities exist to ensure that individuals who stand out in the profession as well as individuals who would like to study in the field of nursing further, but who are unable to for financial reasons, are provided with opportunities to receive financial aid and rewards. The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses offers a number of ways in which to build your resume. For example you will have the opportunity to gain leadership skills by volunteering to serve on a national committee or task force, or running for a local chapter office. Another member benefit is that you will be able to network and learn at local chapter meetings and events. Networking with other professionals in your field is well known as being one of the best ways in which to enhance your career opportunities, which is why the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses offers multiple opportunities for this. IN addition these events allow you to gain important knowledge that will aid you in your profession. Through the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses you will also earn rewards for recruiting new members.
If you would like to join the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, please visit www.amsn.org.
Membership Fees
The current fees that members have to pay are as follows:
- If you choose to be a Full Member your fee will be $84 a year
- If you choose to be a Senior Full Member your fee will be $75 a year
- If you choose to be a New Graduate Full Member your fee will be $70 a year
- If you choose to be an Associate Member your fee will be $84 a year
- If you choose to be a Senior Associate Member your fee will be $75 a year
- If you choose to be a New Graduate Associate Member your fee will be $70 a year
- If you choose to be a Student Member your fee will be $50 a year
- If you choose to be a NSNA Student Member your fee will be $45 a year
It must be noted that some of these rates are only available if you apply for membership through mail and fax, not online. TO find out more about this, visit www.amsn.org.
Awards, Grants And Scholarships
The Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses offers a number of financial aid and reward options to its members. The list of options available is included below:
- Anthony J. Jannetti Award
- Career Mobility Scholarships
- Chapter Achievement Awards
- Clinical Leadership Award
- Clinical Practice Award
- CMSRN Certification Grant
- CMSRN Recertification Grant
- Convention Grant
- MEDSURG Nursing Writer’s Awards
- Nurse in Washington Internship Grant
- President’s Award
- Research Grants
- Evidence-Based Practice Project Grant ($5000)
- Nursing Research Grant ($1000)
- Philips Healthcare Research Grant ($5000)
- Nursing Research Grant ($5000)
If you are interested in finding out more about these awards and grant, and if you are interested in applying or you know someone else who should apply, please visit this site for more details on each specific award opportunity.
Career Center
The Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses has a Career Center that exists for the purpose of helping you find the best job possible. As a potential employee looking for work you will be able to save the positions you’ve applied for and jobs that interest you in one place so that you can easily refer to them later and decide whether or not you actually want to apply. In addition you can manage your resume. In fact you will have the opportunity to create and manage multiple resumes to quickly apply for different kinds of positions. This will make the application and search process significantly easier for you. As a member of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses you will be able to sign up for Job Alerts and receive an email notification when a new job is posted that meets your specifications. Lastly you will have access to the Conference Connection service which makes it easy for you to connect with employers at upcoming events.
Potential employers often post jobs on this site because of the reasonable fees and because they know that it will gain them access to all of the best employees in the field.
Chapters
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses has many chapters divided into the following regions:
- Northeast Region
- Southern Region
- North Central Region
- Western Region
For detailed information about each of these chapters, please visit here. There are a number of benefits to belonging to a local chapter, such as the many opportunities to develop personally and professionally, the educational meetings you can attend without extensive travel, the many networking opportunities with local medical surgical nurses and other professionals, a professional group voice to advocate for the specialty of medical-surgical nursing, and last but not least, the opportunity to build your leadership skills through volunteer leadership opportunities.
Events
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses hosts a number of events regularly. If you visit this website you will see that the event currently being advertised is:
AMSN 22nd Annual Convention
September 25 – 29, 2013
Gaylord Opryland Convention Center & Resort
Nashville, TN
On this section of the website you will also be able to see what specific chapters are hosting events. These events may be more directly useful for you as they are hosted at a local level to address local issues or discuss ideas and concepts pertinent to you at a local level. By keeping up to date with the events advertised on the site you will be able to attend all those that will benefit you.
Membership with an organization such as this one can make a significant difference to your career. Potential employers are always on the lookout for individuals who are willing to go the extra mile for the profession. Consequently your membership can benefit you in the direct ways described here as well as in more indirect ways.
