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The
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is
the only national organization dedicated exclusively to furthering
baccalaureate and graduate nursing education.
Membership
From an original 121 member institutions in 1969, AACN today
represents more than 600 schools of nursing at public and
private universities and senior colleges nationwide. These
schools offer a mix of baccalaureate, graduate, and post-graduate
programs. The dean or other chief administrative nurse in
the nursing program serves as representative to AACN.
About
Professional Nursing
Rapid change and mounting complexities in health care have
made baccalaureate- and graduate-degree education and professional
nursing important distinctions.
Today,
the primary pathway for entry into professional-level nursing,
as compared to technical-level practice, is a four-year Bachelor
of Science (BSN) degree in nursing. The professional nurse
with a baccalaureate degree is the only basic nursing graduate
prepared to practice in all health care settings-critical
care, public health, primary care, and mental health.
Nurses
prepared with the master's or doctoral degree are engaged
in a broad array of advanced practice, clinical specialties,
teaching, and research.
AACN
Programs
In 1986, AACN directed the national panel that defined the
knowledge, clinical skills, values, and other essential abilities
that must be possessed by graduates of America's bachelor's-degree
nursing education programs. AACN publishes and disseminates
these Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional
Nursing Practice to nursing schools and policymakers throughout
the nation, and revises the teaching components to stay current
with changing conditions in nursing and health care. AACN
also publishes core standards for master's-degree curricula
for registered nurses who perform at the advanced practice
level, as well as guidelines defining the essential clinical
resources for nursing education, research, and faculty practice.
In
government relations and other advocacy, AACN works to advance
public policy on nursing education, research, and practice.
AACN is a leader in securing sustained federal support for
nursing education and research; in shaping legislative and
regulatory policy affecting nursing school programming; and
in ensuring continuing financial assistance for nursing students.
In
1996, AACN launched a new alliance of multiple organizations
to accredit nursing higher education programs in a more streamlined
and uniform process. Alliance organizations include an autonomous
arm of AACN, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
(CCNE), which is the only national agency dedicated exclusively
to the accreditation of bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing
education programs.
The
Association also operates the AACN Institutional Data System,
a comprehensive national databank reporting current statistics
on student enrollments and graduations, faculty salaries,
budgets, institutional resources, and other trends and conditions
in baccalaureate and graduate nursing education.
Publications
AACN publishes the bi-monthly Journal of Professional Nursing
and Syllabus newsletter, as well as a variety of books
and other publications for nursing educators, administrators,
students, and researchers. In addition, AACN collaborates
with Peterson's, the leading producer of college guides, in
producing Peterson's Guide to Nursing Programs, the only comprehensive
directory of accredited baccalaureate and graduate nursing
education programs in the U.S. and Canada.
Information
about AACN's publications, educational standards, legislative
advocacy, conferences, and special projects, as well as texts
of the Association's position statements, news releases, media
backgrounders, and other reports, can be accessed here on
AACN's Web site. AACN on the Web provides educators, administrators,
practicing nurses, students, and others with the need to know
the latest news and information on AACN and nursing higher
education.
Governance
AACN is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors, each
of whom represents a member institution. The Association has
standing committees on Government Affairs, Membership, Programs,
and other areas of AACN operations; maintains task forces
on such professional concerns as faculty development; and
sponsors interest groups in six areas of nursing education,
practice, and scholarship.
Board
of Directors
Officers:
President: C. Fay Raines, The University of Alabama
in Huntsville
President-elect: Kathleen Potempa, University of Michigan
Treasurer: Eileen Breslin, University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio
Secretary: Jane Kirschling, University of Kentucky
Members:
Janet Allan, University of Maryland
Nancy Debasio, Research College of Nursing
Timothy Gaspar, Winona State University
Donna Hathaway, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Martha Hill, Johns Hopkins University
Juliann Sebastian, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Mary Walker, Loyola University Chicago
Executive
Director: Geraldine Bednash
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