National Nurses Day is coming up soon on May 6th, launching National Nurses Week, which runs from the 6th through the 12th of May. National Nurses Week honors the life and work of Florence Nightingale and, above all, celebrates the ongoing dedication, compassion, and courage of nurses making a difference in people’s lives every day and every year.
Nursa thanks and truly appreciates the millions of nurses from coast to coast who provide hope, relief, comfort, and healing hour after hour, day after day.
Nursa also supports nurses by facilitating high-paying per diem or PRN nursing jobs for registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs), helping them advance professionally and maintain better work-life balance.
Who Was Florence Nightingale?
In the mid-19th century Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, dearly remembered as the “Lady with the Lamp,” made quiet, solitary rounds among the wounded and sick when all the medical officers had retired for the night, carrying a little kerosene lamp to light her way and see the patients at a British army hospital near Istanbul. Leading a group of 38 nurses, she organized and provided nursing care for British and Allied soldiers during the war.
When Nightingale arrived at the military hospital in Turkey, she was shocked at the low or nonexistent standards of hygiene, lack of medicines, and rampant infections. Without hesitation, she and her team began cleaning every room, and Nightingale insisted that all her nurses wash their hands frequently. She set up laundries to wash linen and clothing, reducing the death rate. The world now knows that hygiene, specifically hand-washing, is one of the best ways to curb the spread of disease.
Florence Nightingale was also a writer, a defender of women’s rights, and a reformer who used data analysis to support her recommendations. She is known as the foundational philosopher of modern nursing.
However, around the same time, Mary Seacole, a Jamaican healer who, against all odds, opened her own hospital in Crimea; Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross; Mary Eliza Mahoney, who was the first African American woman to earn a nursing license, and many other stalwart nurses made great strides in modern nursing.
Nursa honors all nurses: those who made history and those who provide hope, healing, and relief today.
How Did National Nurses Day Begin?
Decades of efforts went into establishing a day and a week to express appreciation for the sacrificial and often underestimated efforts of nurses to make life better—from 1953, when Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health sent a proposal to President Eisenhower, to 1982, when President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 6th as National Recognition Day for Nurses. During that period, three specific years marked significant advances.
- 1954: National Nurses Week was first observed in October of this year, marking the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea.
- 1974: The International Council of Nurses (ICN) announced May 12th as International Nurse Day (the birthdate of Florence Nightingale) and has celebrated this day every year since 1975.
- 1982: The Board of Directors of the American Nurses Association (ANA) acknowledged May 6th as “National Nurses Day,” affirming the joint resolution of the United States Congress to celebrate “National Recognition Day for Nurses.”
In the 90s, the ANA Board of Directors expanded National Nurses Day to a week-long celebration, established May 6th through 12th as permanent dates to observe National Nurses Week in 1994 and all following years, and named May 8th “National Student Nurses Day.”
National Nurses Day has been honored annually since 1982, and National Nurses Week since 1994.
How to Honor Nurses on Their Special Day
Celebrations usually involve food, right?
- Take something tasty for all the nurses on your floor. You can decide whether it’s better to take them something they can pick up and eat on the run or a catered meal.
- Throw a party with great food, music, and fun.
- Organize a pot-luck picnic for your nurse friends and their families.
However, much beyond food is the simple word of appreciation, a sincere look in the eye, and a minute of your time to say thank you.
What else can a hospital or other healthcare center do to celebrate its nurses?
- Make a mural of all the nurses at your facility, with an excellent professional picture of each and captions briefly mentioning some outstanding quality or action for each one.
- Place posters around town featuring National Nurses Day, inviting the public to express appreciation.
- Create a board or wall where personnel, patients, and visitors can write words of thanks to the nurses.
Nursa joins the crusade for deep appreciation and well-earned honor for the army of nurses, from veterans to students throughout the country.
Our heartfelt gratitude goes to each and every nurse.
Sources:
