| Course | NU703 Professional Role Development of the DNP-Prepared Nurse |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Professional organization analysis |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU703 Unit 8
From a Member's Unit to a Guideline: A Professional Organization Analysis of How the Oncology Nursing Society Turns Members' Work Into Standards, and Three Routes In for a DNP-Prepared Oncology Nurse Practitioner
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU703: Professional Role Development of the DNP-Prepared Nurse
Unit 8 Professional Organization Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The author and plans are composite; descriptions of the organization are drawn from its published materials as of [month, year], and dates and costs are bracketed.
Introduction
Most writing about professional organizations lists their benefits: journals, conferences, discounts and networking. For a doctorally prepared nurse, a more useful question is how an organization converts the work of its members into something that changes practice beyond their own units, such as a guideline, a position statement or a policy agenda. Professional organizations have long played this role for nursing, speaking for the profession on standards and policy in ways that individual nurses cannot (Matthews, 2012). This paper examines one such organization, the Oncology Nursing Society, through that lens. I am a composite oncology nurse practitioner working in a community cancer center, and I have been a member for [six] years without contributing to any of its products.
Why This Organization
I considered two other organizations before choosing this one for analysis: a national nurse practitioner association and a multidisciplinary cancer survivorship society. The nurse practitioner association speaks for my role across all specialties and is strongest on scope of practice and reimbursement, but it produces little oncology-specific content. The survivorship society is closer to my DNP project, but its guidelines are written mainly by physicians and its nursing voice is small. The Oncology Nursing Society is the one body in which oncology nurses write the standards for oncology nursing, and in which a nurse practitioner's clinical work can move through a nursing peer review process into a nursing guideline. That makes it the best place to study how a specialty organization converts members' work into standards, and the most likely place for my own work to have an effect.
Governance
The Oncology Nursing Society is governed by a board of directors elected by its members, supported by volunteer committees and project teams that do much of its content work, and by local chapters that bring members together in their regions. Descriptions here are drawn from the organization's own published materials as of [month, year], and structures of this kind change, so a reader should check the current version. For my purposes, the important point is that the organization's products are largely developed by member volunteers working through committees and project teams. That means the route to influence runs through volunteering for specific work, not through membership alone.
Knowledge Production
The organization produces knowledge in three main forms. It publishes two peer-reviewed journals, the Oncology Nursing Forum, which emphasizes research, and the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, which emphasizes practice. It develops clinical practice guidelines on symptoms and conditions related to cancer treatment, using systematic reviews and panels of nurses and other experts, and it publishes clinical summaries to help nurses apply them. The lymphedema guideline, for example, is accompanied by a clinical summary describing lymphedema as a chronic condition, most commonly resulting from treatment for breast, gynecologic, prostate and head and neck cancers, lymphoma and melanoma, and noting that most strategies to prevent and manage it are nonpharmacologic (Backler et al., 2020). And it holds an annual congress where members present abstracts, posters and sessions.
Policy
The organization publishes a health policy agenda and advocates on legislation and regulation affecting people with cancer and oncology nurses. I describe this activity without claiming outcomes, because the effect of any single organization's advocacy on a law is hard to separate from other forces. For a member, the relevant entry points are responding to calls for action, joining advocacy activities and contributing clinical examples that the organization can use to explain an issue.
How an Innovation Moves Through the Organization
Tracing a single hypothetical innovation shows where a member can enter. Suppose a nurse practitioner at a community cancer center develops a nurse-led clinic that identifies early lymphedema after breast cancer surgery and refers patients promptly to therapy. First, she evaluates it locally, with data on referral times and outcomes. Second, she submits an abstract to the annual congress and presents a poster, where others can see and question the work. Third, she writes it up for the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, where it becomes part of the published record. Fourth, if similar work accumulates, it may be considered in a future guideline update or cited in a position statement, although no single project controls that step. At each stage, the organization's peer review and committee processes filter and strengthen the work.
Membership gives me access to the organization's products; contributing to its processes is how my work could become one of them.
Three Planned Contributions
My analysis points to three contributions I can realistically make over the next [two] years, each mapped to a domain of the 2021 Essentials (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021).
First, I will submit an abstract on my DNP project, a nurse-led survivorship visit for patients finishing treatment, to the [year] congress. This addresses the domain of Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline, and the target date is the abstract deadline in [month, year].
Second, I will apply to join a project team or committee, ideally one working on survivorship or symptom management content, when the organization next calls for volunteers. This addresses Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development, and my target is an application by [month, year].
Third, I will join my local chapter's activities and offer to present a case-based session on survivorship care to chapter members. This addresses Interprofessional Partnerships in its broadest sense and builds the relationships through which committee work often comes. The target is a session by [month, year].
Costs and Limits
Membership dues are [dues] per year, and congress registration and travel cost [amount], which my employer covers in part. Volunteer work takes time from clinical and family life, and I have limited my plan to three contributions for that reason. The organization's processes are also slow: a guideline update may take years, and my work may never be cited in one. The plan does not depend on that outcome.
Conclusion
The Oncology Nursing Society is a mechanism through which members' clinical work becomes published knowledge, guidelines and policy positions. For a doctorally prepared nurse, the useful question is not whether to belong but where to contribute. My three planned contributions enter that mechanism at the congress, in its committees and through its chapters.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education.
Backler, C., Beck, M., & Poage, E. (2020). Lymphedema: Clinical summary of the ONS Guidelines for cancer treatment-related lymphedema. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 24(5), 566-570. https://doi.org/10.1188/20.CJON.566-570
Matthews, J. H. (2012). Role of professional organizations in advocating for the nursing profession. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(1), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol17No01Man03
What the NU703 Unit 8 assignment asks for
For Unit 8 you analyze a professional nursing organization and plan your own contribution to it. Typical versions ask you to describe the organization's structure, how it produces knowledge and standards, its policy role, and how a doctorally prepared nurse could contribute, often mapped to the Essentials. Five pages in APA format, sometimes with a diagram, is usual. Faculty reward analyses that treat the organization as a mechanism for influence rather than a list of member benefits, facts drawn from the organization's own current materials with a date, and contributions that are specific and realistic. Avoid claims about the outcomes of an organization's advocacy that you cannot support, and bracket costs and dates, since dues, structures and deadlines change from year to year.
How this NU703 Unit 8 example is built
The introduction reframes the question from joining to contributing and cites a paper on professional organizations' advocacy role. A section explains why this organization was chosen over a nurse practitioner association and a survivorship society. Governance, knowledge production and policy each get a section; the knowledge section cites the clinical summary of the lymphedema guideline as an example of how guidelines reach practice. A traced pathway follows a nurse-led lymphedema clinic from local data to a congress poster, a journal article and possible guideline consideration, and carries the highlighted sentence on access versus contribution. Three contributions follow, each linked to an Essentials domain and a date. A section on costs and limits and a short conclusion close the paper.
Reading the NU703 Unit 8 grading rubric
Organization analyses in this course tend to be graded on accuracy, analytic depth, the contribution plan, use of sources and presentation. Accuracy earns credit when facts come from the organization's own current materials and are dated. Analytic depth rewards an account of how the organization produces standards and influence, not a description of membership benefits. The contribution plan is judged on specificity, realism and links to the Essentials. Sources are credited when they support claims about the organization's role and are cited in APA style. Presentation covers organization, headings and any diagram. Papers that trace one piece of work through the organization's processes often score highest on depth, because the pathway shows exactly where a member can enter.
Common NU703 Unit 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them
One common weakness is writing a membership brochure: journals, discounts and conferences, with no analysis of how the organization works. Another is stating facts about governance or advocacy from memory rather than from current published materials. Some papers claim that the organization's advocacy caused a particular law to pass, which is rarely supportable. Contribution plans are often vague, such as become more involved. Others are unrealistic for a working clinician. And the Essentials link is frequently missing. Trace one piece of work through the organization, from a unit to a published product, and plan two or three contributions with dates that fit your actual schedule and your program's timeline.
Get an NU703 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Which organization does your Unit 8 prompt name or allow, and what is your specialty? Add the rubric. We analyze that body as a system, trace how member work becomes influence, and plan three dated contributions mapped to the Essentials. Expect it within 24-48h; a first order is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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NU703 Unit 8 questions, answered
Can I analyze an organization other than the one in the sample?
Yes, and the strongest choice is usually the body closest to your specialty or intended role, whether a specialty society, a state association or a group focused on doctoral nursing practice. The analytic questions transfer: who decides, how evidence is vetted, how positions reach policy, and where a doctoral nurse can enter. Tell us your specialty and the sample will match it.
What counts as a doctoral-level contribution to an organization?
Work that uses doctoral competencies: disseminating a practice project through abstracts or articles, appraising evidence for guidelines, analyzing policy for advocacy, or mentoring members in scholarly writing. Attending events or paying dues is membership, not contribution. Map each planned contribution to a domain of the Essentials so the connection is explicit for the grader.
Where should facts about the organization come from?
The organization's own current website, bylaws, annual reports and published materials, cited with access dates, since governance and programs change. Secondary summaries are often out of date. For claims about influence or effectiveness, look for peer-reviewed sources rather than the organization's own statements, and qualify what they show.
Where can I find a free NU703 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page holds the complete NU703 Unit 8 organization analysis, covering why the organization was chosen, its governance, knowledge production and policy, a traced pathway for one innovation, three dated contributions, and costs and limits, plus three references. An analysis of your own organization can be drafted.
How does an innovation reach a guideline in NU703 Unit 8?
In the traced pathway, a member evaluates the work locally, presents it at the annual congress, publishes it in a practice journal, and, if similar work accumulates, it may be considered in a guideline update. Peer review and committee processes filter it at each step.