GNA: Private duty section, 1926-1930

Minutes, correspondence, membership lists, annual reports, and some printed materials make up the records of the GNA sections and conference groups. Each occupational specialty formed its own section, which dealt with the needs of those nurses based on the type of nursing they performed and their workplace. The majority of the sections were formed in the 1940s and 1950s following the example of other state and national organizations. In addition to serving the needs of their constituent nurses within the state, the sections also served to represent the various nursing specialties at American Nurses' Association conventions in order to further the profession on a larger scale.

Conference groups were similar to sections but dealt with specific nursing issues like geriatrics and maternal and child health as opposed to types of nursing. They were first formed in the 1960s. Around 1970, following an American Nurses' Association mandate, all sections were converted to conference groups.

The GNA holdings contain the following records of Sections/conference groups:

• Nursing Service Administrators [Institutional Staff Nurses section, 1938-1949, Administrative section, 1948-1955, Institutional Nursing Service Administrators, 1956-1961, Nursing Service Administrators, 1962-1970, Nursing Service Administrators Conference Group, 1970-1973], served to promote and assist the supervisor nurse who fulfilled leadership and administrative functions within larger health care organizations.
• Clinical Specialists conference group, 1973.
• Community Health conference group, 1971-1975, 1982, provided nurses with knowledge and skills to help treat community health problems.
• Educators, administrators, consultants, and teachers section, 1952-1971 [conference group, 1970-1975], represented the nurses who trained new people in the profession either at traditional colleges and universities or in hospital sponsored training programs.
• General Duty section, 1936-1970, represented nurses who worked full-time in health care facilities providing direct care for patients.
• Geriatric Nursing Practice Conference Group, 1963-1976, dealt with the specific and specialized needs of the elderly, including nursing homes.
• Occupational Health [Industrial Section, 1953-1957, Occupational Health section, 1958-1970, Occupational Health conference group, 1971-1976], represented those nurses who provided health care to workers in factories and mills throughout the state of Georgia.
• Intensive and Coronary Care Conference Group, 1970.
• Maternal and Child Health conference group, 1970-1976, provided nurses with support and knowledge in caring for mothers and children.
• Medical Surgical Conference Group, 1969-1974.
• Office Nurses section, 1941-1957, represented those nurses that worked in doctor and dentist offices.
• Private Duty section, 1926-1970, served to represent the large number of nurses who provided nursing care to individuals either in hospitals or in the home. These nurses were independent operators who sometimes worked through employment agencies (Nurses’ professional registries). Because of the isolated nature of their work the private duty section provided a valuable service by setting standards of pay and responsibilities for the individual private duty nurses who made up the majority of the GNA membership.
• Psychiatric Nursing Practice Group, 1965-1970, provided leadership and knowledge in regards to the important new field of psychiatric nursing in order to allow nurses access to the growing body of psychiatric techniques in use in the nursing field.
• Public Health section, 1954-1970, served to represent those nurses that served in various public health departments throughout Georgia. This was crucial because of the importance of public health services in a state as poor as Georgia where the only medical care available in some areas was provided by public health nurses with their care and inoculations.
• Special Groups, 1952-1957, served as a catch all for various nurses who did not fit into any of the other sections. The majority of them were school nurses who were eventually incorporated into the occupational health section.