Celebrate the commitment and work of nurses

The year 2020 was named the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” long before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Now, more than ever, is the time to celebrate the legacy, commitment and work of nurses in Pittsburgh, the United States and around the world.

May 12 is the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale. As nurses, we all take the Florence Nightingale pledge at our nursing school graduation, which includes this important statement: “I shall be loyal to my work and devoted towards the welfare of those committed to my care.” Nurses are doing just that by responding to the COVID-19 pandemic on the front lines, caring for people with this disease, their families and loved ones.

Every nurse in 2020 is doing their part in the pandemic by providing sciencebased nursing clinical care for patients, tending to distraught families, working with health departments on surveillance and contact tracing, educating health care teams, educating the public, developing policies and procedures, assisting those with other health care issues that put them at risk and maintaining clinical services in hospitals, clinics and community programs.

If anyone thought that nurses simply give out medications, think again! Nurses are the cornerstone of the health care systems, interdisciplinary treatment teams and the public health workforce. Nurses are highly educated professionals who are leaders, innovators and policymakers as well as clinicians.

On May 12, join the world in saluting nurses in the 2020 Year of the Nurse!

LINDA ROSE FRANK

Greenfield

The writer is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Nursing.