ANNA President-Elect Discusses Nephrology Nursing

Established in 1969, the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) is a professional association representing 60,000 nephrology nurses nationwide. The organization supports nurses in all areas of nephrology, promotes education and research, shapes and upholds standards of nursing clinical practice, and works to strengthen and elevate the profession of nephrology nursing.

A signature event is the annual ANNA National Symposium, which will take place May 1-4, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. At that time, Faith Lynch, DNP, RN, CNN, NEA-BC, AMB-BC, will assume the role of ANNA’s national president. Nephrology Times spoke with her about challenges faced by nephrology nurses, goals for her presidency, and the upcoming symposium. 

What are your goals for your upcoming term? 

A few of my goals for my ANNA presidency are to: (1) lead with purpose, (2) elevate the nephrology nursing profession, (3) increase education to not just RNs but also LPNs that are considered nurses as well, and to innovate the profession of nursing.

What led you to run for national president of ANNA?

I’ve been a nephrology nurse for 19 years and I was always taught if you want to make change, you have to be the person to make the change—you can’t rely on everybody else. So here I am. I started at my local chapter, and then I was asked by another member to join a committee, and it all started from there. Then I kind of just worked my way up throughout the association, and I ran for president and was voted in by the members.

What are the biggest challenges in nephrology nursing?

The 3 biggest challenges that nephrology nurses are dealing with right now are: (1) a nursing shortage, (2) nobody really knows what a nephrology nurse does, and (3) people feel that dialysis is all that nephrology nursing is. So, ANNA has actually—we’re working with Carolyn Jones, who’s the director of The American Nurse—and we are premiering a nephrology nursing documentary at our national symposium this year. It’s all about nephrology nursing, what we do, all the different areas, and how nephrology nurses work with patients and our relationships with them.

How do you challenge incorrect perceptions about nephrology nursing?

There are a lot of misconceptions in regard to nephrology nurses and what they do. The biggest one is that nurses go into nephrology nursing when their career is dying. That is very much not true. I’ve been in nephrology nursing for 19 years and I have a really long time to go, and I actually never left the field.

There are other misconceptions: that you need to be a nurse for 5 years before you can be a dialysis nurse or that dialysis nursing is all that nephrology nursing is. And it’s not. You have nurse educators, you have nurse administrators, you have transplant nursing—that’s part of nephrology nursing. You have CKD [chronic kidney disease] clinic nurses; you have NPs. There’s so many. It’s just a broad term for a large population.

What should attendees expect at this year’s National Symposium?

So, this year at the National Symposium, the attendees can expect the premiere of our nephrology nursing documentary titled I Want to Live, which is so exciting. There’s been a lot of time and effort and hours from all different organizations to film this, and it’s all nephrology nurses. A lot of them are ANNA members.

Another exciting opportunity that the nurses get to see at the national symposium is we are premiering the movie Nurse Unseen. It’s a documentary about Filipino nurses that came across from the Philippines and the impact it had on that population in the United States during COVID.