To serve the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy, the Academy works through a system of Expert Panels - each chaired by an AAN Fellow. Each Expert Panel generates, synthesizes and disseminates nursing knowledge in a specific area that is important to AAN and our society as a whole - such as heath care quality, aging and women's health, to name a few. Based on their expertise, the AAN Board of Directors and Fellows develop positions and timely initiatives in critical areas.

Expert Panels are expected to establish partnerships/linkages with other health policy organizations, consumer groups, and agencies such as Institute of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Society for Women's Health Research. This is done in collaboration with the Board of Directors to ensure consistency and to avoid overlapping responsibilities. Members of the Expert Panels also work with these other interests to organize and lead symposia and seminars on their issues.

In some cases, Expert Panels partner among themselves and with other AAN taskforces and committees to assure that all sides of an important issue are fully assessed and that the most comprehensive solutions possible are developed.

In recent years, Expert Panels working with external organizations have conducted studies and made recommendations in areas such as:

• Re-designing hospital care to shorten patient stays and enhance patient safety;
• Contributing to a federal agency's published guidelines for decreasing infection rates in hospitals;
• Ensuring that hospitalized elders receive care that maintains the best possible health and prevents deterioration;
• Developing brief treatment interventions for substance abuse disorders that offer chances for full recovery; and
• Recommending national and state policies and programs to support family caregivers.

Expert Panels aim for balanced membership that includes administrators, academicians and clinical practice experts. Panel members may agree to appoint and invite interdisciplinary consultants to their Panels. Currently, there are 17 active Expert Panels:

Acute and Critical Care Aging Breast Feeding Child/Adolescent/Family Cultural Competence Emerging Infectious Diseases Environmental Health Genetic Health Care Global Nursing and Health

Magnet Advancement Nursing Theory-Guided Practice Nursing & History Technology & Informatics Palliative and End of Life Care Psychiatric-Mental Health/Substance Abuse Quality Health Care Violence Women's Health