WORLD NURSES DAY-
MAY 12
International Nurses Day is observed on May 12,
2016. It is celebrated around the world to mark the contributions nurses make
to society. In January 1974, May 12 was chosen to celebrate the day as it is
the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who is widely considered
the founder of modern nursing. Each year, ICN prepares and distributes the
International Nurses' Day Kit. The kit contains educational and public
information materials, for use by nurses everywhere. Nursing
is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of
individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover
optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other
health care providers by their approach to patient care, training, and scope of
practice. Nurses practice in a wide diversity of practice areas with a
different scope of practice and level of prescriber authority in each. Many
nurses provide care within the ordering scope of physicians, and this traditional
role has come to shape the historic public image of nurses as care providers.
The American Nurses Association states nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.
The American Nurses Association states nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.
Unfortunately, many
people seem to think that the most important people in the healthcare system
are the doctors, but this is simply not true. Ever the underdog, nurses play a
key role in all of our medical institutions, being responsible for the welfare,
safety and recovery of patients. Nurses have an enormous amount of knowledge
and many diverse skills they spend years perfecting and developing, all the
time working in decidedly tough environments where extreme stress is just a
part of the job. Nurses help bring new life into the world, care tirelessly for
the sick and injured, and sometimes watch the patients they did everything to
save pass away despite their best efforts. On many occasions, it was a vigilant
nurse who noticed a mistake in a doctor’s prescription in time to save
someone’s life. Acknowledge the hard work, long hours, and emotional duress
that are part of the life of every nurse on International
Nurses Day.
It all began in 1953, when Dorothy
Sutherland, an official with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, contacted President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposing he proclaim a
“Nurses’ Day”. However, he did not approve her proposal at that time. The
International Council of Nurses has celebrated on May 12th since 1965. May 12th
is an important date to all nurses, as it is the anniversary of the birth of
Florence Nightingale, who is widely considered the founder of modern
nursing. In January 1974, this day was finally officially made International
Nurses Day. Each year since then, ICN prepares and distributes something called
the International Nurses’ Day Kit which contains educational and public
information materials, for use by nurses everywhere.
Because
this day is all about celebrating nurses’ endless contributions to society,
take this opportunity to show a nurse who has taken care of you how much you
appreciate him or her. As with most gestures of appreciation, whatever you
decide to do need not be grand or cost much money. Sad as it is, many people
neglect to thank their nurses at all, seeing them only as robots who only know
how to follow the doctor’s orders, so every little way to say a simple “thank
you” will definitely make that nurse’s day. If you are feeling especially
grateful for the way a certain nurse took care of you (fed you, brought you a
blanket, cleaned vomit off of you, monitored your vital signs, made sure you
were getting the right pills, changed your wound dressings, helped you get to
the bathroom, let you cry on his or her shoulder, or any of the hundreds of
other things nurses do), today is the day to show that gratitude. So take a
trip down to the hospital with a box of chocolates, a nice bottle of wine, or
anything else you think that particular nurse might like. Some people, after
having spent months in the hospital with a serious condition, decide to order
pizza or cake for the entire medical team that was looking after them, a
gesture that that team is guaranteed to remember you for forever, if you should
decide on it. However, as mentioned before, it’s the thought that counts the
most. A nurse’s main goal is to help you get through treatment and get better,
so just knowing he or she succeeded is a reward in itself.
Prof. John Kurakar
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