According to ANA's 1917 Certificate of Incorporation, two of the purposes of the organization are "...to promote the professional and educational advancement of nurses in every proper way; to elevate the standard of nursing education..." The association, however, did not take any significant action in this area until the 1960's when the association made a definitive statement on nursing education, A Position Paper on Educational Preparation for Nurse Practitioners and Assistants to Nurses.
ANA's Committee on Education proposed the establishment of an autonomous commission which would design and spearhead a comprehensive study regarding the results of the consultant group. Both the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing
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The passage of the nurse training act and the establishment of federal programs providing funds for training various categories of health workers made it imperative that ANA provide sound guidelines regarding the preparation needed for nursing practice and for the work of ancillary nursing personnel.
The 1964 ANA House of Delegates adopted a motion that "ANA continue to work toward baccalaureate education as the educational foundation for professional nursing practice." The house requested that the Committee on Education work with "all deliberate speed to enunciate a precise definition of preparation for nursing at all levels." This request resulted in the development and ANA Board of Directors endorsement in 1965 of A Position Paper on Educational Preparation for Nurse Practitioners and Assistants to Nurses.
The major assumption underlying the development of the position paper was that "education for those in the health professions must increase in depth and breadth as scientific knowledge expands." According to members of the Committee on Education, the purpose of the position paper was to describe a system of education rather than to label practitioners. These following principles were set forth in the position paper: