Happy Nurses Week! We want to recognize the energy and
commitment you give every day to being a nurse, whether you’re on the floor or
in a leadership role. We applaud you!
National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th
and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The first
“National Nurse Week” was observed from October 11-16, 1954. That year marked
the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to
Crimea. That was the only year Nurse
Week was observed until the ANA expanded the recognition of nurses from one day
to an entire week in 1990 and the May 6 – 12 dates have been the national
standard since 1994.
National Nurses Week is a time to celebrate and recognize
nurses who work in every field in healthcare, but it is also a time to reflect
on how far nursing has come. And to do that we need to look at the woman who
started it all – Florence Nightingale. Many of you most likely know her story:
born in 1820 in Florence, Tuscany, came to prominence during the Crimean War,
and laid the foundation for professional nursing by establishing a nursing
school in London. In 1912, the International Committee of the Red Cross
instituted the Florence Nightingale Medal, which is awarded every two years to
nurses or nursing aides for outstanding service. We’ve been celebrating
International Nurses Day on her birthday since 1965. And statues of Florence
can be seen around England.
But did you know that her parents didn’t want her to enter
the nursing field? They were an affluent family who ran with elite social
circles and expected Florence to get married and start a family. Florence,
however, had a different idea. She started caring for the ill and poor in her
village at an early age and by the time she was 16, decided that nursing was
her calling. Her nickname “The Lady with the Lamp” was earned during the
Crimean War when she would make rounds well past dark, armed only with a lamp,
providing comfort to injured soldiers. Besides being a gifted nurse,
Nightingale possessed strong math skills. She became a pioneer in the visual
presentation of information and statistical graphs and is credited with
developing the polar area diagram to illustrate seasonal sources of patient
mortality.
As we reflect on the history of nursing, we also look
forward to the future and know that with the strong, compassionate, and driven
nurses we have in the field today, that future will be bright. Thank you all,
and again, happy Nurses Week!
*If you are interested in learning WWFD – or What Would
Florence Do – check out the new book by ANPD member Sue Johnson, PhD, RN-BC,
NE-BC, What Would Florence Do? A Guide
for New Nurse Managers available here.
