Operationalizing Professional Values Through PAC Donations

This article describes how campaign contributions reflect the organization values of nursing and medicine. The authors analyzed the contributions made by the American Nursing Association’s political action committee (PAC), the ANA-PAC, and the American Medical Association’s PAC, AmPAC, to candidates for the U.S. House and Senate from 1989 to 2002. The authors compared this information with the official positions of both groups on health care reform, as put forth in their official publications on the subject. The authors found that ANAPAC consistently contributed to the campaigns of Democrats, who are more likely to support the same reform policies as nurses. In addition, it was discovered that AmPAC supported Republicans to a higher degree, although their contribution strategy was more mixed. These contributions reflect each organization’s values regarding health care reform.