SHOULD MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN NURSES' ASSOCIATION BE MANDATORY Introduction This research considers the issue of mandatory membership in
the American Nurses' Association for all registered nurses. The
issue is one of concept and not practicality in the near term,
because their is no mechanism in existence in the United States
through which such a requirement could be enforced. At the
conceptual level, however, there are a number of factors
confronting the profession of nursing in the contemporary
environment that cause membership of all registered nurses in the
American Nurses' Association to be a desirable goal.
Factors Influencing the Issue of
The profession of nursing has become increasingly complex,
as nurses assume greater responsibilities in the areas of
clinical practice, education, and the advance of nursing science
(Krouse and Holloran, 1992, pp. 62-64). The changing face of
society impels the change in nursing (Loveridge, 1991, pp. 46-
A serious shortage of professional nurses exists in most
geographic areas of the United States, but is particularly acute
in rural counties and towns (Higgins, 1990, p. B1). The causes
of the shortage of professional nurses are many and varied. On
one level, the personnel shortage itself is also a cause, because
the stress introduced into the practice of professional nursing
by over-work (resulting from the personnel shortage), in turn,
causes many more nurses to leave the profession.
The nursing shortage is also aggravated by a significant
P8 à4 Šdecline in the numbers of new professional nurses being provided
by schools of nursing (Manthey, 1988, pp. 644-647). The decline
in the output of schools of nursing is the combined result of
reduced numbers of students entering the schools, and incre...