American Nurses Association

History

Initial organizational plans for the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States of America were made on September 2, 1896, at Manhattan Beach Hotel near New York City. Those plans were ratified in Baltimore on February 11–12, 1897, during the annual conference of the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses, with Isabel Hampton Robb as the first president. A major early goal was enhancing nursing care for American soldiers.

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) was founded in 1899 with the ANA as a charter member alongside Great Britain and Germany, and the first ICN Congress was held in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. The Ninth ICN Quadrennial Congress took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1947, attended by over 5,000 delegates representing 250,000 nurses from 32 countries, with ANA leadership arranging lodgings and raising travel funds. In 1970, Mattiedna Johnson spoke at an ANA convention about the lack of representation of African American nurses, which contributed to the founding of the National Black Nurses Association in 1971.

In February 2022, the ANA partnered with Congresswoman Deborah Ross and Congressman Dave Joyce on the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) Act, aimed at addressing the shortage of SANEs and improving care for survivors of sexual violence, with endorsements from RAINN and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Mission

The ANA represents registered nurses through 54 constituent member associations, establishing standards of nursing practice, promoting nurses' workplace rights, and advancing their economic and general welfare. The association has expressed concerns about fixed nurse-to-patient ratio numbers. It operates three subsidiary organizations: the American Academy of Nursing, which advances health policy and practice through nursing knowledge; the American Nurses Foundation, its charitable arm; and the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which credentials nurses in specialties and facilities demonstrating nursing excellence.