The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, or the AANN as it is commonly referred to, is an association aimed at ensuring quality within the domain of neuroscience nursing. It also aims to protect the interests of the nurses involved in the profession as well as to ensure that patients are kept safe and provided with the highest level of care that is possible. Membership with such an organization will improve your professional standing in the industry.
Membership
According to the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses website, “AANN members share experience, education, and expertise, and represent nurses and healthcare professionals in diverse areas of neuroscience patient care. Membership stimulates professional growth and improves the quality of neuroscience nursing care”.
When you join the AANA you know you are joining a group of nurses that sees itself as a family. This family or group of individuals is passionate about neuroscience and through your membership and belonging you will be in a position to gain knowledge and experience through stories and data shared through the AANN Special Focus Groups or educational programs. IN this way it is clear that AANN:
- Strives to help you grow as a professional
- Strives to help you grow as a care-giver for your patients
One of the main purposes of belonging to the association is the fact that you will have a number of opportunities to advance your skill set and your profession. This is because you will have access to education that is in line with the most recent developments and trends, exposure to important competencies that are invaluable within your career, and access to a variety of different AANN tools and resources. You’ll also enjoy savings on CNRN certification, whether you’re renewing the credential or earning this valuable certification for the first time as members are eligible for special discounts in this regard. Apart from serving yourself you will also have the opportunity to serve others through your membership. With access to the best tools and education, you’re equipped to treat your patients with the best in quality care. This is an ideal that all good nurses in all subdivision of nursing strive towards as their primary goal in life is to serve. As an AANN volunteer, you’ll serve the profession by assisting with the work of AANN, such as developing publications or educational programs, professional recognition programs and more.
There are a number of features and benefits that you will have access to as a member. Firstly there are a number of extremely insightful and useful AANN Publications that only members of the association have access to. In addition a number of Continuing Education opportunities are made available to those members who are interested in expanding their career options and making the most out of the profession. Members are eligible for significant CNRN savings. CNRN refers to certification and all of the costs that it entails. As a member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses this will be a far smaller burden for you to cope with than you may have otherwise thought.
Because networking is one of the primary ways through which professionals advance their careers, the association offers a number of networking opportunities to its members. As a member you will be able to participate in Special Focus Groups (SFGs) aimed at advancing the profession and your career. You will also have a number of opportunities to volunteer within the field, which will enhance your qualifications by providing you with extra experience as well as serving to significantly boost your resume as a nursing professional. There are a number of Local Chapters in each state that you could consider joining, allowing you to affect change at an immediate level and in a way that you will be able to see immediately. AANN has a number of partnerships with other organizations which benefit you as a member in a variety of different ways. The different Membership Types are Active, Associate, Student and Corporate, and each membership types comes with a different fee structure as well as different eligibility requirements and benefits. By and large, however, the benefits mentioned here are available to all membership types.
In order to become a member you can either complete the online application at http://persweb.connect2amc.com/aann/Membership/tabid/113/Default.aspx or download print and submit the application form which can be found here.
Chapters
There are a number of chapters of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. If you go to http://www.aann.org/chapters/content/find.html on the association’s website you will have the opportunity to search for the various chapters in your state. For example, if you search for New York, the following chapters come up:
Greater New York Chapter (NY, NJ, CT)
Auslim Ali
hajsali@yahoo.com
Greater Rochester Chapter
Caryn Mark
caryn_mark@urmc.rochester.edu
Upstate New York
Laurie Murphy
murphyl@ellismedicine.org
Likewise if you are searching for chapters in Florida you will have the following six options:
Emerald Coast Chapter
Caramia Bland Rosado
caramia.rosado@shhpens.org
Gold Coast Chapter (Broward/Palm Beach County)
Stefanie Serianni
steffie0825@aol.com
www.aanngoldcoastchapter.freeservers.com
North-East Florida (Jacksonville)
Alyssa Yoder
yoder3@comcast.net
Suncoast Chapter
Debra Marr
marrd@scf.edu
Sunshine Chapter (Central FL)
Lori Hartigan
sailinhart@aol.com
Tampa Bay Chapter
Theresa Ford
kyle.ford2@verizon.net
www.tampabaychapteraann.co
This comprehensive guide will assist you in finding a suitably located chapter no matter which state you live in.
Career Center
The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses has a Career Center which exists for the purpose of providing you with a number of opportunities for finding employment in a setting and industry that best suits you. Both employers and job seekers can benefit from the system provided on the association’s website. If you are a job seeker you will be able to post your profile on the Career Center page free of charge. Your professional profile is essentially an account of who you are as a professional and what skills and knowledge you possess. Potential employers look through this information when seeking candidates for a job opening. You will also be able to browse all available positions listed on the site by potential employers. By refining your job search using the specific criteria offered on the site you will greatly increase your chances of finding the job that you are looking for quickly and accurately. If you are not prepared to apply for a new position immediately, you have the option of saving up to 100 jobs in your account to view and apply for at a later date. This is a feature that is only available to individuals who are members of the organization and it provides you with more freedom in your job search. If you run into a dead end there is a help and FAQ section that you can use that will clarify the procedure of searching for a job.
Employers can also benefit from this Career Center and can use it to find the perfect candidate for an open position quickly and easily. For one thing an employer can search by specialties and demographic information on the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses’ members. This allows them to refine their search considerably and find the person that they are looking for quickly. This function would, for example, filter out any candidates who live in the wrong area for the position. Many employers are also attracted to posting their options on this site due to the single rate that they have to pay as well as for the discounts that they receive for placing multiple listings on the site. The more employers are encouraged to post their jobs on the site, the more chances you will have of finding the best job for you. Potential employers can post a number of different jobs on the website in order to expedite the process of finding qualified candidates.
Because employers have the option of keeping their postings up to date and current by updating their job description, checking the status of their postings, renewing their postings when the time expires or choosing to discontinue their postings due to the position being filled, you can be sure that the job listings you are reading through are up to date and currently relevant. Employers have the opportunity to review the professional profile database and receive e-mail notifications when new profiles match their search criteria. What this means for you is that simply by posting your professional profile on the site you may already be drawing attention from a number of potential employers who are interested in your specific skill set. Employers are also more likely to advertise on this site due to the marketing opportunities it provides as they can enhance their company’s exposure with banner ads and other advertising opportunities.
If you would like to find out more about this organization, please use the contact information provided below:
AANN National Office
4700 W. Lake Avenue
Glenview IL 60025
888/557-2266 (US only)
847/375-4733
847/375-6430 FAX
732/460-7313 Int’l FAX
info@aann.org
Joan Kram
Executive Director
847/375-4877
jkram@aann.org
Beth Zemach
Senior Program & Product Analyst
847/375-4783
bzemach@aann.org
Jacki Van Oort
Senior Education Manager
847/375-3675
jvanoort@aann.org
Allison Begezda
Marketing and Member Services Manager
847/375-4844
abegezda@aann.org
Joe Lindahl
Operations Manager
847/375-6386
jlindahl@aann.org
Patience Chiles
Account Administrator
847/375-6334
pchiles@aann.org
Jim Schwer
Member Services
847/375-4795
jschwer@aann.org
V. Susan Carroll
Journal of Neuroscience Nursing Editor in Chief
susan.carroll25@gmail.com
June Pinyo
Synapse E-News Managing Editor
847/375-4882
jpinyo@aann.org
Mary Paulson
Sales Manager
847/375-4803
mpaulson@aann.org
Vanessa Mobley, CMP
Senior Meetings Manager
847/375-4857
vmobley@aann.org
