The International Nurses Day is an annual observance held on the 12th of May 2023 that commemorates the birth (in 1820) of Florence Nightingale, the foundational philosopher of modern nursing. The event, established in 1974 by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), also serves to highlight the important role nurses fulfill in health care.
The theme of the International Nurses Day for the year 2023 is “Our Nurses. Our Future” which emphasizes the gigantic role nurses play in the lives of people.
Nightingale became an important figure in nursing in the 1850s during the Crimean War. At that time she was stationed at the Barrack Hospital at Scutari (Üsküdar; now a district of Istanbul), where she headed a group of nurses that cared for injured British soldiers. When she first arrived at the hospital, she was struck by the desperate condition of the facilities, and as a result, she imposed strict standards of care and ensured that the wards were kept clean and well-stocked with food and medical supplies. Nightingale’s experiences at Scutari led her to campaign for reform in health care and nursing, and in 1860 she opened the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. The school’s success prompted the establishment of similar training schools for nurses elsewhere. These pioneering schools provided a fertile foundation for the subsequent growth and advance of the modern nursing profession.
Nurses have an enormous amount of knowledge, 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 patients pass away despite their best efforts which is one of the worst; to witness a human’s life depart.
Nurses have varied roles and they are responsible for a number of different things in the workplace. This includes writing care plans for patients, assisting with evaluations and tests, setting up blood transfusions and drips, checking and administering drugs and injections, and observing and recording the condition of patients. They will also maintain patient records, mentor junior and student nurses, organize staff and reassure patients and their relatives. This merely scratches the surface from responding quickly to emergencies to planning hospital discharges and carrying out routine investigations, the list goes on. Nurses certainly have a huge role to play when it comes to the health and well–being of people all around the world.
Let us take this opportunity to show the nurse who has taken care of you how much you appreciate him or her. Whatever you decide to do need not be grand or cost much money. Therefore, every little way to say a simple “thank you” will definitely make that nurse’s day.
No matter how difficult the days may get, never forget that nurses are angels on earth drawing smiles on people’s faces!
Happy Nurses Day!
