hawaii association of professional nurses reflection

8/17/2019 Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses Reflection

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Running Head: HAWAII ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL NURSES1

Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses

Christine Rombawa

N360 Spring 2016

api!olani Communit" College


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HAWAII ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL NURSES2

The Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses (HAPN) is a non-profit professional

nursing organization with unlimited authority to lobby legislature. HAPN focuses on bringing

nurses together to form a consensus. Their goal is to be the ital oice of nurses and to educate

the public on the roles and practices of registered nurses and adanced practical registered

nurses.

! had the opportunity to attend the Hawaii Association of Professional Nurse"s meeting

on #anuary $%st& $'%. ue to the limited amount of space& they only allowed thirteen students

from *api"olani +ommunity +ollege to attend. As an alternatie& there was an option to

participate irtually. !t was interesting to find out that many of the members that were present at

the meeting were Professors at arious nursing schools in Hawaii.

They hae about si,ty members that are a combination of registered nurses& adanced

practical registered nurses& and nursing students. !t was stated at the meeting that the N

membership count was low compared to the APN"s and they are hoping to gain more members

that are registered nurses. This would allow a well-rounded and eual e,pression of the nursing

community reflected in their membership and oice. !t is fairly easy to /oin and they are

currently accepting new members. 0embership fees to /oin for students are 12' a year and 1' a

year for all other members. They hae member meetings on Thursdays of eery odd month and

3,ecutie meetings eery een month.

They currently do not offer any scholarships for student members& but are planning to

proide scholarships in the future. HAPN offers other educational resources to their members

and helps their members who need continuing education units. 0embers are also able to iew


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/ob postings and participate in professional and personal deelopment& entrepreneurship&

networ4ing opportunities and conferences.

They recommended attending conferences as a student because the price to attend is

significantly lower and it is a great learning opportunity. The most recent conference was the

$'% Psychopharmacology +onference that was held at the 5utrigger eef 6ai4i4i 7each resort.

The cost to attend was 1$'' per day or 18'' for the entire conference. The conference addressed

topics about medications used to treat children and adolescents with depression& psychotherapies

and behaioral therapies& treatment of depression in geriatric patients& opioids and pain

pharmacotherapy& and information regarding the use of medical mari/uana and legal

considerations.

They hae 2 main committees9 legislation& education and public relations. The legislation

committee is responsible for lobbying for change and communicating with policy ma4ers who

support Hawaii Professional Nursing 5rganization"s goals and persuade them to support specific

policies that affect APNs. The education committee supports professional growth by attending

conferences and sharing the information with other members. They also recruit spea4ers to come

to Hawaii and spea4 at conferences that benefit the organization. :astly& the public relations

committee focuses on recruiting more members to boost membership and ma4ing their

organization more isible in the community.

They discussed a ariety of senate and house bills that they were focusing on and gae a

brief description of the 7ill and what their intent and plan was to moe forward with them. 0ost

of the bills were related to increasing the scope of practice and prescribing authority of APNs.


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5ne of the 7ills that were addressed were ;enate 7ill %'


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HAWAII ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL NURSES/

eference

C&e""*+ 0a"a"a+ Su$an aco- Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, &Management, 6th Edition- o$*+ 214- 5ia%0oo, 6%e-

Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses. (n.d.). The HAPN 7oard. etrieed from http9>>www.hapn-nurses.org>?@hapn-board>c8mn
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