The first organizational meeting of the SANC was held at University Health System on March 15, 2019, and attended by the founding member organizations.
By Nelson Tuazon, DNP, DBA, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, CPHQ, CPPS, CPXP, FNAP, FACHE, FAAN
As nurses, we must demonstrate our professional duty and obligation to belong to professional organizations such as Texas Nurses Association,
the American Nurses Association, and other regional and specialty organizations. As a powerful, influential, and highly trusted professional group, we advocate for the needs of our patients and clients in various care settings through practice, education,
administration and research. Professional associations increase the influence of nursing in patient advocacy, promote the image of nursing, highlight efforts for healthy work environments and
contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.
The benefits of belonging to a professional organization are numerous, including continuing education, mentoring opportunities, networking
and social support particularly for new nurses, training ground for leadership competencies, opportunities for advocacy, and pathways to other leadership roles. In the United States, there are at least 200 nursing organizations and approximately 230 national and international nursing organizations. Texas alone has dozens of organizations at the local and state level for nurses.
Barriers to Sustaining and Growing Membership
Although nurses have a great variety of choice, nursing organizations have not seen membership increase in relation to the growth of the workforce. Whereas over 90 percent of doctors belong to Texas Medical Association, barely 7 percent of nurses belonged to any association. In Texas, this means that in 2020, 66,000
doctors had greater advocacy power than 340,000 nurses.
The decline in membership — due to the cost of dues versus the perceived value of the services gained, competition amongst organizations, and reduced time and commitment from members due to competing demands
and personal responsibilities — continues to challenge professional organizations.
The exclusivity of purpose, restrictedness of knowledge-sharing, the need to maintain relevance,
duplication of activities and overlap in the mission of nursing organizations also pose as barriers to the sustainability and growth of professional nursing associations.
The First Organizational Meeting of the San Antonio Nursing Consortium was held at University Health System on March 15, 2019, attended by the founding member organizations.
The Birth of the San Antonio Nursing Consortium
Recognizing the barriers and challenges of forming a professional association, such as raising start-up funds, identifying interested members and officers, and generating resources, I founded the San Antonio Nursing Consortium with specific strategies in mind.
Clear communication of purpose, mission and vision.
Gaining support from nurse executives and nurse leaders to encourage the involvement of their nurses in professional organizations.
Promoting the visibility of the different local nursing organizations.
Leveraging the use of technology for remote meetings.
SANC started as a mutual agreement among three associations in San Antonio – the South Central Organization for Nursing Leadership, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses San Antonio and the Philippine Nurses Association of San Antonio – to hold
an educational program. Each organization invited and sponsored a speaker, co-sponsored the food and secured a sponsor for the venue. With our combined resources, we were able to offer the program for free to our members. We also invited the officers
of other local nursing organizations. Close to 80 nurses attended, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. As the event ended, we quickly agreed to formalize plans for the next event!
Six professional organizations signed on as founding members of SANC. Through professional networking, our organizational members grew to 13 in 2020. As
our first coordinated effort, we tapped into the chief nursing executives of the three major health systems and the dean of a university in San Antonio to promote SANC. The financial support SANC receives from our event sponsors — including major health care systems, schools of nursing, vendors and other benefactors — has allowed SANC to implement its signature strategic initiatives free to members or for a nominal fee.
San Antonio Best 25 Nurses ribbons.
The Purpose, Promise and Propositions of SANC
SANC was founded on the principle that we do not need more organizations; what we need is to unify existing organizations, strengthening
and solidifying our efforts. SANC does not have elected officers. Each organization appoints two representatives to our coordinating council. As founder, I served as the inaugural chair. This year, we will be rotating chairmanship and will select
our new chair. In the past year, due to the pandemic, our meetings and events have been conducted virtually. The member organizations of SANC agreed that we will remain a no-fee association with voluntary membership and will be open to other professional nursing associations.
SANC has launched three signature strategic initiatives:
The Best 25 Nurses of South Central Texas
The San Antonio Patient Safety Conference, held in collaboration with the Batz Safety Foundation
The Stop the Bleed Program, in collaboration with the University Health Trauma Program, to train community members to respond
to trauma
The officers of the organizational members take turns in leading these initiatives, thus ensuring that the work is distributed equitably. We also support each other’s educational programs, gala, scholarship events and community activities. Any available
funds from SANC events are used to support the events and activities of the organizational members.
SANC thrives in the prospect of sharing resources, talent, time and expertise and is committed to supporting each other through dissemination of information,
co-sponsorship of events and joint projects. The leaders of the member organizations agree that the key to the success of sustaining the synergy among the professional associations in San Antonio is collaboration, cooperation and co-creation rather
than competition! We hope other areas will use this model to start their own coalitions and unite nurses to better serve nursing and Texans.
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