Some are calling nurses heroes. They’re saying nurses are on the front lines of the pandemic. Nurses hold patients’ hands when they’re alone. Nurses are there when patients die.
Today marks the last day of Nurses’ Week. It’s not a new celebration, but one that happens every year May 6-12. Today is also what would have been Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday. Ms. Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing.
Ms. Nightingale was an influencer during the Crimean War, helping to improve unsanitary hospital conditions in an era where men ran the show. She was a disrupter, an advocate for quality care. She was a hero.
Florence Nightingale would have fit in perfectly to the nursing profession today. Working to improve care, advocating for the rights of patients. Providing compassionate care at all levels. Ms. Nightingale was the instigator but every nurse since her time has been doing the same job.
Photo by Helen Bauer, The Heart of Hospice
Newly graduated nurses
Compliance and regulatory specialist nurses
Intensive care nurses
Labor and delivery nurses
Surgery and recovery room nurses
Advanced practice nurses
Nurse educators, managers, and administrators
Licensed Vocational and Licensed Practical Nurses
Emergency room and trauma nurses
Retired nurses
Palliative care and oncology nurses
Hospice nurses
Nurses have varying levels of education. They work hard to serve our communities. They are not perfect, but they try to represent the nursing profession with pride.
While current conditions are shining a spotlight on the work that nurses are doing to care for patients, it’s good to remember that nursing has been doing this same work for a long time. Florence Nightingale lit the torch and nurses have been carrying it ever since.
Nurses are heroes. Today. Every day. Happy Nurses’ Week 2020.
“Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift – there is nothing small about it.” – Florence Nightingale
Comments