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International Nurses Day- 12 May
This day marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingale and is celebrated to highlight the importance of nurses around the world, remember them for their immense hard work and contribution to the healthcare continuum. During times of need, they’re the first to assist a person and their care, concern and respectful treatment are undeniably vital. They are central to the delivery of health care and their sacrifices during times of epidemic or pandemic are very well-acknowledged and appreciated.
First International Nurses Day celebration
It was celebrated in the year 1965,
In January 1974, May 12 was chosen to celebrate ‘Nurses Day’.
Nurses Day History
Florence Nightingale initiated this practice of professional nursing. In the year 1860, the first secular nursing school came into existence at St Thomas’ hospital in London, she strived hard for it. To pay tribute to her and remember all that she did for the sick and needy, this day is celebrated. The highest international distinction, the Florence Nightingale Medal was named in her honor.
Why We Celebrate Nurses Day (History of International Nurses Day)
International Nurses Day (IND) is an international day celebrated around the world on 12 May (the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth) of each year, to mark the contributions nurses make to society.
Who is Florence Nightingale?
Florence Nightingale, (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing.
Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager of nurses trained by her during the Crimean War, where she organized the tending to wounded soldiers. She gave nursing a highly favorable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of “The Lady with the Lamp” making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.
While recent commentators have asserted Nightingale’s achievements in the Crimean War were exaggerated by the media at the time, critics agree on the decisive importance of her follow-up achievements in professionalizing nursing roles for women. In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King’s College London. In recognition of her pioneering work in nursing, the Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses, and the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve, were named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday. Her social reforms include improving healthcare for all sections of British society, advocating better hunger relief in India, helping to abolish prostitution laws that were over-harsh to women, and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce.
Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime, much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. Some of her tracts were written in simple English so that they could easily be understood by those with poor literary skills. She was also a pioneer in the use of infographics, effectively using graphical presentations of statistical data. Much of her writing, including her extensive work on religion and mysticism, has only been published posthumously.
A Day in the Life of Our Nurses
Nurses are one of the largest and most vital workforces in healthcare. With the ever-changing processes and continuing advances in hospitals, they still need to meet the expectations of both hospital management and patients whilst providing even more complex patient care.
As a result, nurses often describe their days as demanding, erratic, and both mentally and emotionally draining. These are some of the reasons why there is so much work-related stress, job dissatisfaction, and poor personal health associated with the nursing profession.
Burnout, a state of physical and emotional exhaustion, is relatively common for those in healthcare professions. A study in BMC Nursing has investigated the factors which impact both this and work engagement in nurses through detailed interviewing. Collaboration with staff was seen as essential for effective workload balance but this was not always easy to attain, and nurses voiced clear frustration as a result.
It also became apparent that the need to provide increasingly complex patient care for chronic conditions coupled with a shortage of hospital staff causes a great deal of strain on nurses. In this study, one of the nurses even claimed “Our management expects good patient care quality but with a decrease of care personal … not easy.” Unsurprisingly, nurse managers also admitted that high workloads could affect the quality of patient care and safety, not least of all because nurses become unable to socially interact with their patients and may be more prone to making mistakes.
It’s important to note that these studies all converge on the same conclusion – we need to achieve a healthy nursing workforce. It follows on that only by actively addressing challenges raised and faced by our nurses, can we strengthen the quality and safety of our healthcare.
Ways of Nurses Day celebration
-Gifts and awards are given away to Nurses.
-Many patients show their love by sending e-Cards.
-Virtual Webinars are organized to train and educate people.
-The International Council of Nurses distributes an international nurses day kit having educational and public information materials.
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