Emergency nursing cares for individuals of all ages in critical condition of their illness or injury without preliminary diagnosis. It encompasses all ages and medical specialties. Preventive care education and injury prevention is becoming a larger role for emergency nurses.

According to Kristine M. Alpi, the Associate Library Director Samuel J. Wood Library and C. V. Starr Biomedical Information Center, emergency nursing is one of the fastest growing specialties in the nursing profession. In 2000, there was a whooping 95,000 registered nurses employed in the United States alone. With this large number of emergency room nurses there is a need for an organization that will gather and look after these medical professionals.

In the United States, the primary organization for emergency nurses is the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). In 1970, Anita Door launched the Emergency Room Nurses Organization in Buffalo, New York. Another organization was formed by Judith Kelleher, the Emergency Department Nurses Association in California. These two groups merged in December 1, 1970 to become the emergency Department Nurses Association. It was renamed ENA in 1983.

In 1972, the Royal College of Nursing in the United Kingdom established an accident and emergency nursing group, which became the Accident and Emergency Nursing Association in 1990. The first international emergency nursing congress was held in 1985 in London.

In Hong Kong, emergency nurses can join the Hong Kong Society of Emergency Medicine as members. There are some countries that do not have an organization specifically for emergency nurses but allow E.R. nurses to become members of other organization focused on emergency work.

The following are several international organizations of emergency nurses:

• Belgium: Association Francophone des Infirmier(e)s d’Urgence
• Canada: national Emergency Nurses Affiliation , Inc. (NENA)
• Denmark: Danish Association of Accident and Emergency Nursing
• Italy: Nurses of Emergency (NOE)
• Malta: Malta Emergency Nurses Association
• Mexico: Mexican Association of Emergency Nurses
• Netherlands: Dutch Association of Accident & Emergency Nurses
• New Zealand: College of Emergency Nurses New Zealand
• Spain: Sociedad Espanola de Enfermeria de Urgencias
• Sweden: Swedish Association of Trauma Nurses

Emergency nursing organizations are very important in advancing the rights of the emergency health workers. ENA has been actively campaigning in educating the public about the violence emergency health workers are experiencing while they are in duty. ENA even has a statement regarding partner and family violence which leads to several cases of emergency patients victim of this kind of violence.

E.R. nurses joining these organizations will definitely benefit from them. These organizations would readily provide publication where there will be updates about medical technologies and procedures that will further educate our nurses. These organization also provide courses, training and education programs, even certification programs for the improvement of the organizational members.

Professional organizations, like the emergency nursing organization, provide a venue for nurses to learn and associate with their peers, mentors and nursing leaders. An emergency nursing organization membership can lead to increased awareness of nursing issues and support for collective actions among nurses. Learning, developing and improving is a life time process. Emergency nursing organizations offer nurses to improve and see their nursing career and future.

Organizations are formed to protect, defend, and advance a certain group’s advocacy or welfare. For emergency nurses, it is fortunate for them to have an organization that is not only geared towards improving their performance in the medical profession but build and safeguard their medical community as well.