Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

AANP's Diversity Commitment Statement

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners^® (AANP) is a professional organization of nurse practitioners (NPs) composed of a diverse group of individuals, including those from different specialties, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, ages, religious backgrounds, genders, gender identities and sexual orientations.

AANP is committed to strengthening our collective professional and clinical excellence. AANP will empower all NPs to advance high-quality, equitable health care — while addressing health disparities — through practice, education, advocacy, research and leadership (P.E.A.R.L.). AANP leadership is committed to fostering an inclusive environment, which will enable recruitment and retention of a diverse membership that reflects the communities served.

Highlights

AANP Committees, together with the AANP Board of Directors and executive staff, have supported multiple reviews of and changes to AANP’s structure, processes, and educational opportunities to foster an inclusive environment. A few highlights over the past few years include:

• A policy update that limits members from serving in more than one leadership position at a time to increase opportunities for new leaders.
• Open calls for AANP Committee positions that include a standard vetting and selection process instead of selections from a limited circle of candidates.
• An effort by AANP leadership to balance new and more seasoned leaders in the appointments process to encourage mentor/mentee opportunities.
• A structural review of all AANP internal policies, grants, scholarships, and awards that resulted in updates to ensure equitable access, criteria and selection.
• A change to state liaison term limits to encourage more movement throughout the leadership pipeline, and an increase in responsibilities and education to prepare them for advanced leadership roles.
• A fairer and more equitable speaker selection process for the AANP National Conference. Presentations are blinded for both the initial reviewers and for the conference committee. This is to reduce speakers primarily being selected based on whether they were known colleagues to the selectors or how much they had presented at past AANP conferences, which substantively limited the speaker pool and its diversity. The revised process has expanded the speaker pool and has matched more novice speakers with experienced speakers to build experience.
• Development of numerous continuing education sessions, podcasts and practice guidelines with equity considerations.
• Creation of AANP Student Education and Training (AANP SET) to provide on-demand content to help students prepare for NP practice, including a health equity section. The resource is being used by academic centers and preceptors across the nation.

View all AANP BOD Standing Committees and their Charges

DEI News and Resources

Please reference these helpful links and resources to see what the DEI Committee is currently reading and expand your understanding of DEI.

We Want to Hear From You!

Have you experienced a diversity success story in your workplace or patient population that you'd like to share? Have you come across an article, video or other resources from which you think the rest of the AANP community can benefit? How about feedback for the DEI Committee? Fill out this form to let us know.