Travel Health Nurses Make a Difference

Throughout the year, ATHNA joins with the ANA to celebrate the commitment and contributions of US nursing professionals to the health and well-being of our nation and our world. The ATHNA Board of Directors sincerely appreciates the many efforts of nurses in our specialty providing pre- and post-travel services in a multitude of clinical settings to individuals, families, groups, and organizations. Travel health nurses contribute to the health and safety of their travelers, the destinations they visit, and the communities to which they return. ATHNA is grateful for our more than 3000 members who provide customized, quality healthcare to students, tourists, missioners, business travelers, the military, and other travelers every day. As the professional association for the specialty of travel health nursing, ATHNA is honored to work on your behalf.

AMERICAN TRAVEL HEALTH NURSES ASSOCIATION

WELCOME!

The American Travel Health Nurses Association (ATHNA) is the professional organization for the specialty of travel health nursing in North America. Founded in 2004, ATHNA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit incorporated in New York. With more than 3,300 members across the United States and internationally, ATHNA is committed to professional development, networking, research, and advocacy in travel health nursing. If you provide health care services for travelers – both domestic and international – ATHNA is the nursing organization that supports you and your patients. Join us as we build our professional community!

Our Mission Statement

As the U.S. professional organization and voice for the specialty of travel health nursing, ATHNA's mission is "to advocate for nurses engaged in the care of all travelers through professional development, scholarship, evidence-based practice, and specialty board certification."

The Specialty of Travel Health Nursing

Recognized by the American Nurses Association in 2020 as a distinct nursing specialty, Travel Health Nursing is the specialized nursing practice that advances the well-being of all travelers in all phases / stages of travel, both domestic and international.

Travel health nursing professionals provide care for individuals, families, and groups through all stages of travel including pre-travel preparation, in transit support, and post travel evaluation and management. We practice in a variety of settings that include hospitals, private travel health clinics, universities, corporations, the military, public health centers, and community clinics. As clinicians, we are specially educated and trained to assess traveler health and safety risks and to provide risk management strategies that include immunizations, medications, health counseling, and referrals. Travel health nurses also function as researchers, faculty members, consultants to business and governments, entrepreneurs, and nursing leaders in this country and internationally.

ATHNA Offers Free Membership. If you provide services to travelers, please consider joining our professional association.

ATHNA TravelBytes

TravelBytes are engaging, substantive, and concise posts from a variety of fellow professionals in the field of travel health. The writers strive to illuminate challenging clinical issues, share timely evidence-based recommendations, and keep you apprised of relevant global health and policy developments.

Access former TravelBytes here.

Members Only Portal

Membership Benefits

In addition to the information offered on our homepage, we offer our members additional content and resources available on the Membership Portal. Not yet a member? Join today – we offer free membership and welcome your participation in the U.S. professional organization for the specialty of travel health nursing.

What does the Membership Portal Offer?

Travel Health Knowledge and Skills
Travel health nurses can access foundational information for the practice of our specialty. Here you will find the Model Travel Health Nursing Curriculum and the Travel Health Nursing Glossary.

Forms Archive
From time-to-time ATHNA shares new forms, checklists, and clinical tools to facilitate efficient and effective patient care. This includes the ATHNA template for a pretravel assessment questionnaire updated every year as needed, a screening tool for yellow fever vaccination, a checklist for rabies pretravel prevention counseling, and more. Members will want to adapt these documents to their own practice settings and travel populations and review and revise prn.

Career Center
Members are welcome to post open positions or announce their availability for travel health nursing employment. Employers are welcome to post employment opportunities.

Membership Certificate
A certificate suitable for framing is available as a download to our members.

NED Information
Announcements about registration, CE topics and speakers are posted here for our members who plan to attend one of the regional and unique Networking, Education and Development conferences ATHNA offers each summer.

Announcements

Travel Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice

Do you prepare individuals and families for international travel?

As international travel returns, nurses will need to be prepared to offer travel health services according to best practices and the latest legal guidelines. An essential resource for delivering comprehensive and quality care is Travel Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, 2021, a joint publication of the American Travel Health Nurses Association (www.athna.org) and the American Nurses Association.

  • Did you know? Fewer than twenty percent of travelers seek pretravel services at travel health clinics; most travelers seek immunizations, medications, and counseling guidance from their primary care provider.
  • Travel Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice is written not only for nurses in this new specialty, but also for any nursing clinician with patients who travel
  • This text is the legal foundation for the nursing care of US travelers
  • If you provide any travel health services: pre-travel assessment, immunizations, or health counseling (e.g., malaria, zika, traveler's diarrhea, jet lag, altitude illness) you will find this text essential
  • Post travel care is mentioned as well- Recommendations for post-travel triage and evaluation are included
  • To access the Table of Contents, go to: www.nursingworld.org/~4951d0/globalassets/catalog/book-toc/2021_travel-health-nursing_toc.pdf

To purchase your personal copy or multiple copies for your clinical setting:

Immunize.org Update

Board of Director member, Lori Wolfe RN BSN MSN ABOHN-C, offers these Immunize.org updates for Winter 2024.

Remember: anyone can receive weekly free email updates from Immunization Action Coalition by registering at immunize.org.

Let's talk about vaccines; Here is the skinny below, what you can know!

Order Immunize.org's child, adult, and lifetime immunization record cards – wallet-sized, designed to last!

Immunize.org's personal immunization record cards, printed on rip-proof, smudge-proof, water-proof paper, are designed to last a lifetime. They fit in a wallet when folded. The record cards are for you to give to your patients as a permanent personal vaccination record and are sold in boxes of 250.

Immunization Cards

Make bulk purchases and receive quantity discounts. For quotes on larger quantities or customizing, or to request sample cards, call 651-647-9009 or email admininfo@immunize.org.

This site is supported and maintained by Shoreland, Inc., publisher of Shoreland Travax®. Photos are supplied by Harlan Crowder. The American Travel Health Nurses Association gratefully acknowledges this contribution to the specialty of travel health nursing in the United States.