Honoring those who treat others: National Nurses Week set May 6-12
National Nurses Week celebrates the nursing profession and the vital role nurses play in health care. It begins on May 6, National Nurses Day, and concludes on May 12, which is Florence Nightingale’s birthday (1820-1910).
Her work in establishing nursing as a profession is honored during the week.
A variety of events will be held across the country to celebrate nurses and the critical work they do.
Efforts also will be made to educate the public about nursing as a possible rewarding career choice.
Nightingale a heroine during war
During the Crimean War (1853-56) Nightingale and a team she trained traveled to the main British war camp in the southern Ukraine, to nurse the wounded.
When she arrived, she found an overworked medical staff and a short supply of medicine. Hygiene was being neglected, which led to mass infections and deaths.
She organized and improved the nursing of the sick and wounded and improved the cleanliness of the area.
School established
In recognition for her work, the British government granted her $250,000. She used the money in 1860 to establish St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses, one of the first professional training schools for nurses.
She was admired for her far-sighted ideas and reforms, and nursing became an acceptable profession largely because of her efforts.
More young women started training to become nurses, inspired by her actions, and nursing became seen as an honest and ethical profession.
Since then, nursing has evolved into a profession with many different paths. Now, nurses have plentiful career choices available to them during their careers.
The first National Nurses Week was held in 1954, the 100th anniversary of Nightingale’s Crimean War work. Nightingale’s birthday, May 12, was later established as an International Nurse Day by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in 1974.
As of 1998, May 8 has been designated as National Student Nurses Day.
The American Nurses Association has led efforts to celebrate nursing, and in 1990 it moved to recognize the contributions of nurses in the annual, weeklong event it is today.