The Trained Nurses’ Association of india - Tamil Nadu State Branch

The Trained Nurses. Association of India (TNAI) had its beginning in the Association Of Nursing Superintendents which was founded in 1905 Lucknow (UP /INDIA) composed of 9 European Nurses holding administrative posts in hospitals. Like their counterparts in other countries this small band of women was imbued with vision and a pioneering spirit. They saw the need to develop nursing as a profession and also to provide a forum where Professional nurse could meet and plan to achieve this ends. The movement gathered momentum and in 1908 a decision was taken to establish The Trained Nurses Association with the Objective of the following.

• To uphold in every way the dignity and honour of the nursing profession and to promote - sense of UNITY among all nurses
• To promote and maintain high standard of health care, nursing education, nursing practice including nursing research.
• To advance professional educational economic and general welfare of nurses.

The Trained Nurses of India believes that good health is the fundamental right of every person and that is the responsibility of the health profession including Nursing to provide the kind of health care which will give the each individual in society; every opportunity to achieve optimum health.

As a professional person, nurse is ethically, morally and legally responsible giving the required care to each individual to the best of her/his ability. The Trained Nurses' Association of India, is ready to help in the profession as a whole in every way to uphold the high standards and promote the preparation of each nurse so that one is qualified to give the required care. Finally it is the belief of the Trained Nurses' Association of India that each Nurse is a member of the society and is entitled to the same individual rights, privileges and the goals of physical, mental, economics and social developments that are available to the other members of the society. The profession is responsible to give such assistance as may be necessary to achieve these goals.

Motto:

The motto of the State Branch shall be “We Serve”.

• The members of Trained Nurses Association of India in which is incorporated, the Health Visitors League, the Midwives, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives Association and the Student Nurses' Association. Resident in the Tamil Nadu State shall be members of the State Branch.
• The members of the Trained Nurses Association of India Temporarily resident in this Tamil Nadu Shall be members of this State Branch during the period of their stay.

Patron

The Honourable Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Tamil Nadu State, shall be the Patron of the Association.

For the implementation of the aforesaid objectives the state Branch may provide for / prescribe / and

• Hold meetings, convene conferences, organize/conduct demonstrations and arrange refresher courses, exhibitions etc...
• Print and publish books and pamphlets, in English or in regional languages to educate the public about Nursing, Maternity and Child welfare, and any other related subjects to promote health consciousness among the people.
• Suggest improvements in Nursing education and the working conditions of Nurses as and when necessary.
• Generally to promote such activities as may from time to time be deemed necessary to maintain the dignity and honour of Nursing profession.
• Office bearers - 4
• All CPs - 9

Functions

• To enunciate standards of Nursing Education and implement these through appropriate channels.
• To enunciate standards of Nursing Services and implement these through appropriate channels.
• To stimulate and promote research, designed to increase the knowledge on the practice of Nursing.
• To represent Nurses and serve as their spokesperson with allied national and international organisations, Governmental and other bodies and the public.
• To promote the general health and welfare of the Nurses and senior citizens in the state.
• To give awards to the student nurses and educational institutions for their excellent academic performance.

The Office bearers of the Branch shall be

• President
• Vice- President
• Secretary
• Treasurer

Committees

• Student Nurses’ Association (SNA) Advisor
• Chairperson - Education Committee
• Chairperson - Economic Welfare
• Chairperson - Nursing Service
• Chairperson - Membership
• Chairperson - Public Health
• Chairperson - Nursing Research
• Chairperson - Programme Committee
• Representative - HVL Midwives & ANM

The Executive Committee shall be formed of the Office bearers of the Branch

• President
• Vice- President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Student Nurses’ Association (SNA) Advisor
• Chairperson - Education Committee
• Chairperson - Economic Welfare
• Chairperson - Nursing Service
• Chairperson - Membership
• Chairperson - Public Health
• Chairperson - Nursing Research
• Chairperson - Programme Committee
• Representative - HVL Midwives & ANM

The State Branch shall hold a biennial General Meeting of the Office bearers, members and visitors at such time and place as Executive Committee shall decide. At the inaugural session, the patron shall preside if present. If not Vice Patron (if present) shall be voted to the Chair. If none of the aforesaid are present the President shall preside if present, if not the Vice President of the State Branch shall preside. If none of the aforesaid are present, a member present may be voted to the Chair. The Chairman shall have a casting vote.

The quorum for a general meeting shall be one third. If the quorum is not present within half an hour after the time for which the meeting has been called the General Meeting shall be adjourned and then may function without a quorum on the same day. The agenda of the Biennial General Meeting shall include the adoption of the biennial report, the acceptance of the Audited Annual Accounts and the election of the members of the Committees. Each member shall be a\entitled to vote on matters brought forward.

Emblem

The emblem of the State Branch shall be that of the Trained Nurses Association of India with the following additions:

• The Motto “WE SERVE” with a lamp above on the inner triangle
• The Name of the Branch “T N A I” at the bottom and “Tamil nadu” and “Branch” on the sides, within the outer triangle

Duties of office bearers and Committees

The President shall be, Chairperson of the Executive Committee and an Ex-Officio member of all committees She/He shall preside at the business session of the general meeting of the State Branch and shall give special assistance in the raising of funds.

The Vice President shall, in the absence of the President, perform the duties of the president and shall take particular interest in the recruitment of new members.

The Honourary Secretary shall

• Convene and attend all general Executive and other Committee meetings.
• Keep proper records of such meetings.
• Conduct the correspondence of the State Branch.
• Maintain a register of members.
• Submit the annual report of the Branch to the National Association.
• Edit or aid in editing any publication printed on behalf of the Branch.
• Keep in touch with the working of the District / zonal Sub-Section.
• Keep the Editor of the Nursing Journal informed of State News of general interest.

The Honourary Treasurer shall

• Be responsible for banking and maintaining accounts of all the funds of the State Branch.
• Prepare the financial Statement to be submitted to the General Secretary of the Trained Nurses Association of India for financial year ending 31st March in each year on or before 31st July of each year and to be presented to the General Meeting of the State Branch and for audit..
• The Branch Bank Accounts and investments shall be operated jointly by the Treasurer and the Secretary.
• Submit all account books, receipts and other documents as may be required for audit.
• Apply for and receive the Annual Grant from the T N A I / HQ.
• Prepare budget and submit the same to the General Body.
• The SNA fund shall be the part of TNAI Tamil Nadu State Branch account and shall be operated by TNAI state Branch office bearers entrusted / designated for the purpose.

Chairperson - Membership Committee

Chairperson Membership Committee shall be responsible for enrolling new members and the follow-up of the lapsed members and she/he submit the report to the Executive Committee prior to the Conference.

Chairperson - Nursing Education Committee

The Chairperson, Nursing Education Committee shall be responsible for planning and organizing activities or Programmes related to emerging trends in Nursing Education, suggesting needed improvement in the standard of nursing Education and development of guidelines for observance of desired standards.

Chairperson - Socio Economic Welfare Committee

The Chairperson, Socio Economic Welfare Committee shall be responsible for

• Staff governance, quality of nursing emoluments, work hygiene ergonomic work environments.
• Suggesting realistic ways and means that will enable nurses to a level of economic recognition that would commensurate with their contribution to society.

Chairperson- Public Health Nursing Committee

The Chairperson, Public Health Nursing Committee shall be responsible for planning and organizing programmes (e.g workshop conferences etc.) to educate the members about current in the field of Public Health initiated improvement in professional practice and to develop guidelines for observance of practice standards.

Chairperson- Nursing Service Committee

The Chairperson Nursing Service shall be responsible for planning and organizing programmes that would keep nurses abreast with newer trend emerging in nursing services and health care, develop appropriate guidelines that would help nurses to adhere to the students of practices and improve their performance.

Chairperson- Nursing Research Committee

The Chairperson, Nursing Research will update knowledge of Research and evidence based practice towards quality assurance in nursing.

Student Nurses Association Advisor (SNA Advisor)

The SNA Advisor shall be responsible for implementing TNAI polices in respect of SNA in the State establishing/ reviving SNA Units in every School/ College of Nursing coordinating SNA activities in the State and at the National Level and promoting SNA to TNAI Life membership enrolment.

The General Committee shall meet ordinarily immediately prior to the General meeting of the Branch and at other time, should the Executive Committee have important business to refer to the longer body.

The Executive Committee shall be the General managing Committee of the State Branch and shall meet at such time and place as the Secretary, with the consent of the President, . It shall meet at least three times in the year, once before the General Meeting at intervals of about four months, two third of the members shall form a quorum Among the responsibilities of the Committee shall be:

• Inspection and approval of accounts and records kept by the various office bearers.
• The periodical review of the activities of branch.
• Preparation of the Annual budget for the branch for submission to the General Committee.
• Appointment of Sub-Committee to deal with special subjects and receiving reports of the same.

• There shall be a returning officer, nominated by the Executive Committee, who shall be the chairperson of the Election and call for nomination, check each nominated members eligibility to stand for election, prepare the nominator's list and publish it in the journal at least four months before the election. The returning officer shall be responsible for making arrangement for the election procedure accepted and followed by the TNAI council shall be followed by the State Branch also.
• The Office bearers and elected members shall be elected once in four years by ballot and shall be eligible for re-election. Nominations for elections shall be proposed and seconded in writing. Each members of the Branch shall have the right to propose and second a nomination and vote for the office bearers.
• Any life member of TNAI/TN branch may file nomination for the various offices of the Executive Committee.
• The Nominations for the president shall be made from life members of TNAI who have served for at least one term of 4 years in any office of TNAI at State level.
• The nomination for the post Secretary shall be made from life members of TNAI who have served at least 1 term of 4years in any office of TNAI at State level.
• Nominations shall be filed in prescribed form giving the name of the nominee, declaration of consent of the nominee, signature and TNAI number of the nominator. The prescribed form shall be printed in Nursing Journal of India at least 4 months before the Genl. Body meeting. The nomination form shall be returned to the Returning Officer appointed by Executive Committee. Nominees shall be the life members of TNAI.
• Life members of the Association shall elect the office bearers at the Genl. Body Meeting.
• Term of office in each case shall be 4 years. The President shall be eligible for re-election for the second term in continuation of the first term as well as other office bearers. No office bearer shall hold the same office for more than 2 consecutive terms (8 years).
• Election committee and the returning officer shall be appointed by the Executive committee.
• A candidate shall contest election for and hold one office only at a time. Every member of the State branch have the right to make nomination. Elections shall be conducted by secret ballot at the meeting of the Genl. body.
• The expenses of conducting the election shall be borne by the Branch.

Special General Meetings

On the signal request of 30 or more members for a Special General Meeting shall be called at any time. The subjects to be considered shall be circulated to all members beforehand and no other business shall be brought forward. Twenty six shall be the quorum for such meetings.

Notice of Meetings

Notice of meetings shall be effectively given to members by publication in the Nursing News Letter and such other ways as may be deemed such as Email IDs, 10 days in advance except for emergency Meetings which can be called in short notices.

Absenteeism for the ECM

If any member of the E C remain absent for three consecutive meetings without prior notice they shall automatically cease to be the member in the executive committee.

The quorum shall be two third of the total members.

Traveling Allowances & other Expenses

Sanction shall be obtained from the Executive Committee for traveling allowance to attend E.C.M. The President shall be authorized to allow expenditure for other official visit by Executive members, for which actual travel charges/ DA will be reimbursed with the approval of the Executive Committee. In emergency Air fare may be sanctioned by phone for a distance of 500km or more. The fare may be reimbursed on submission of boarding pass & ticket

E C Members from out station: 2AC to and fro by train and Rs 500/- for local conveyance plus DA Rs.250/-.

Local Members: Rs 500/- for local conveyance plus DA Rs.250/-.

Clerical assistance to be reimbursed by Office bearers till the office is established. Phone Charges to be reimbursed by Office bearers.

Expenses

Each Office bearers shall keep an account of postage and stationary expense and submit the bills for payment by the treasurer. The secretary shall be allowed to hold an imprest of Rs. 500/- for meeting emergency expenses.

Property, Bank Accounts and Securities

All Accounts of Association shall be in joint account of Secretary and Treasurer.

The property, movable and immovable, belonging to the association shall be deemed to be vested in the name of the Executive committee of the Association. In all proceedings Civil and Criminal, it shall be described as property of the Executive Committee by their proper title. The Executive Committee shall authorise the president, vice-president and secretary to purchase, sell, pledge, endorse and otherwise deal with the securities of the Association in such a manner as may from time to time vary or realise such investments and also to raise funds and borrow money against securities and investments of the Association.

In any case if the Association wants to dispose or do any transaction regarding the properties, it shall obtain prior sanction from the Executive Committee and General Body of the Association.

Audit

All accounts of the State Branch shall be audited on or before 31st July of each year by an auditor to be appointed by the Executive Committee annually to enable the audited accounts to be sent to the General Secretary TNAI, to avoid delay in getting the annual grant from centre.

Reserve Fund

Three fourth of the annual surplus of income over expenditure if any and all donations not specially earmarked for any purpose shall be credited to a reserve fund. The annual income from the investment of the Reserve Fund of the Branch shall be available for ordinary expenses without restriction but the capital amount in the Reserve Fund shall not be withdrawn for any purpose except by the resolution of a General Meeting of the Branch supported by a three fourth majority of full members at the meetings.

Competent Authority

The Council of the TNAI shall be the only authority competent to check or to review the activities and decisions of the State Branch and in case the branch is dissolved of the branch shall become vested and be transferred to the TNAI.

Dissolution / Non functioning of the state branch

The council of TNAI shall be the only authority competent to check or revise the activities and decisions of the state branch and in case the branch is dissolved or it cease to function the funds of the branch shall be vested and be transferred to the Head Quarters fund.

Zonal Section

Zonal sections may be constituted by the Executive Committee. The state Branch can be divided into FIVE zones as follows:

• North
• East
• West
• South
• Central

Zonal Election

Election of Zonal office bearers shall be conducted by the members of the respective zones and approved by TNAI State Branch . Term of office shall be of 4 years. Zonal meetings to be conducted once in 3 months.

Zonal Fund

The zonal members shall collect their own fund to function as Zonal TNA and report to the TNAI State branch all their activities.

Amendments to State Branch Constitution Rules and Regulations and Byelaws

Amendments to the Constitution and byelaws shall be made only by resolutions passed by at least three fourth vote of members present at the genl. body provided that the proposed amendments have been circulated to all members at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting.

Interpretation of clauses

In case of any difficulty in interpreting any of the clauses of this byelaws, the interpretation given by majority of the office bearers will be final.