ATHNA Fact Sheet
The American Travel Health Nurses Association (ATHNA) is a non-profit professional organization that supports all U.S. and Canadian nurses who provide travel health care. It is the only national organization solely created to help meet the professional needs of travel health nurses (THNs) in North America. ATHNA was founded to promote excellence in the care of travelers and serves as a resource for travel health nursing development and education.
ATHNA is tax-exempt under Section 501(c) (3) of the US Internal Revenue Service and is registered with the NY State Charities Bureau.
Mission
The Mission of ATHNA is the advancement of the profession of travel health nursing through education and public awareness. ATHNA seeks to support nurses from diverse professional backgrounds who provide travel health care in a variety of professional roles and practice settings.
Organizational Goals
ATHNA collaborates with individuals, academic centers and other organizations to achieve these goals:
- Advance the profession of travel health nursing in the United States and Canada and serve as a resource for individuals entering the specialty of travel health nursing
- Alert travel health nurses to "what's news" in the field of travel health.
- Facilitate communication and support among travel health nurses and promote regional development of THN networks across the United States and Canada.
- Develop and disseminate standards of care in travel health nursing.
- Establish and maintain an accessible website to house ATHNA information, resources and links.
- Support the educational development of travel health nurses by providing information on conferences, courses, web-based activities and CE activities related to travel health and travel health nursing.
- Collaborate with other nursing organizations to expand professional opportunities for travel health nurses.
- Promote the value of THNs to travelers, employers, colleagues and communities.
History of ATHNA
ATHNA was organized in 2004 as the result of the efforts of a small group of professional nurses who recognized the need for a national organization to promote the interests of U.S. nurses providing travel health care.
Travel health nursing has evolved as a specialty practice in parallel with travel medicine since the mid- 1980's. However, as an emerging specialty, travel health nursing is largely under-recognized among other nursing and health organizations and by the public. The practice historically was often confused with "travel nurses" - nurses who seek employment at distance sites.
For more than a decade, THNs have been meeting across the country in informal networks and working collaboratively with their international colleagues through organizations such as the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). The communication among THNs however, has been limited. Unlike the Royal College of Nursing in the United Kingdom, there was no national organization to link THNs or to promote the growth of the specialty.
Global travel continued to expand and more nurses entered the specialty either full-time in travel health clinics or part-time, offering travel health services in their larger practices. Nurses were providing pre-travel care at their worksites in colleges and universities, in the military, in public health settings, corporations, and in numerous private practices around the country. They practiced alone or with a few professional colleagues for support. Nurses were largely self-taught, as there was no formal educational preparation available. ATHNA was created to meet the needs of these nurses for education, professional advancement and recognition.
The ATHNA board of directors has been meeting since 2005 to address these issues and has created committees to promote activities that will advance travel health nursing. In April 2010 ATHNA became a membership organization. In March 2011 we expanded to include Canadian nurses. Check the website periodically as ATHNA evolves.