Fwd: International Nurses Day (12th May, 2016) , and Nurses Week from 6th May to 12th May every year

The nursing profession is so so very invaluable to mankind that it is not only in giving post doctoral care, but that only

people with a heart of compassion can do justice to this unique service. I wish to take this opportunity to convey to

nurses all the very best in what they are doing. God bless all of you.

Starting with a video song in honoring all Nurses

https://youtu.be/29fdVOqraQs -"These Hands" A song in honour of all nurses

International Nurses Day (12th May, 2016)

International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated every year all around the world on 12^th of May to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Florence Nightingale and to mark the nurses contributions towards people's health.

International Nurses Day History

Nurses Day was first proposed by the Dorothy Sutherland (an officer from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare) in the year 1953 and first proclaimed by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And it was first celebrated by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in the year 1965.

In the month of January in 1974, the 12^th of May was declared to be celebrated as the birthday anniversary of the founder of modern nursing, the Florence Nightingale. International Nurses Day Kit (having educational and public information materials to be used by the nurses among public) is prepared and distributed every year by the International Council of Nurses while celebrating the nurses day.

UNISON (the British public sector union) had asked the ICN in 1999 to celebrate this day on another date as Florence Nightingale is not symbolizing the modern nursing. Then, National Student Nurses' Day was started celebrating annually on 8^th of May since 1998 and National Nurses Week was started celebrating every year from 6^th of May to 12^th of May since 2003.

International Council of Nurses commemorates the International Nurses Day annually all around the world on 12^th of May as the birth anniversary of the Florence Nightingale. International Council of Nurses would distribute an IND Kit in 2014 having educational and public information materials with the theme "Nurses: A Force for Change – A vital resource for health". Nurses are encouraged at this day to comprehensively use this kit throughout the year through their individual and group activities.

Florence Nightingale (the foundational philosopher of the modern nursing) was born on 12^th of May in 1820. International Council of Nurses established the day in 1974 to be celebrated every year to highlight the importance of nurses role in providing the best health care services. She became an important figure of the nursing since Crimean War during 1850s. She, stationed at the Barrack Hospital, Scutari, reformed the health care services and nursing and opened "the Nightingale School of Nursing" at the St. Thomas Hospital, London in 1860.

Promotional and educational activities are organized while celebrating the International Nurses Day annually to address lots of nursing issues. The theme of celebration is selected based on nurses and environment, handling poor, poverty issues and many more. It is celebrated as a week long event, referred as National Nurses Week, in many countries like Australia, United States, Canada and etc.

International Nurses Day Celebration

International Nurses Day is celebrated every year by organizing a candle lamp service in the Westminster Abbey, London. A candle lamp is handed over from one nurse to another (symbolizing to pass the knowledge from one nurse to another) to place it on the High Altar. A big ceremony is also held at the St. Margaret's Church, the Florence Nightingale burial place, a day after her birthday.

It is celebrated for week long in the US and Canada as a National Nursing Week from 6^th of May to 12^th of May. Varieties of nursing ceremonies are conducted during the whole week celebration in the Australia. National Nurses Week is the whole week celebration targeting the health care services on international level. It is celebrated to recognize the contributions and commitments of the nurses among common public. American Nurses Association supports and encourages the celebration of National Nurses Week all through states and districts nurses associations including other health care companies and institutions.

Whole week celebration is planned to commemorate the nurses significant role in caring patients. Activities are held such as educational seminars, variety of community events, debates, competitions, discussions and etc. Nurses are appreciated and honored at this day by distributing gifts, flowers, organizing dinners and etc by the friends, family members, coworkers (doctors, administrators, and patients).

Significance of International Nurses Day

It is celebrated annually on 12^th of May to celebrate the birth anniversary of the modern nursing founder, the Florence Nightingale. Nursing is the largest health care profession in the world and nurses are the key of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Nurses are well trained and educated for maintaining the health and wellness of the patients through all the aspects like psychosocially, socially and etc.

Nurses have deep practical knowledge of delivering best health care services. National nurses associations (NNAs) play an important role in making nurses well informed, advised, encouraged and supported to deliver better work. NNAs works with the governments and non-government organizations to strengthen the health care systems as well as create conditions maximizing the nurses contribution.

International Council of Nurses celebrates this event aiming to increase the public awareness about the nursing and nurses contribution towards the health care innovation. Nurses are the fast and first point of contacting for health services. Nurses are innovatively practiced to provide free health checkup to the industries indicating their willingness of improving the health of staffs, to meet all the local needs, to improve the physical, mental and well-being of the patients and etc.

International Nurses Day Theme

Every year theme of the International Nurses Day celebration from 1988 to 2014 is mentioned below:

The theme of 1988 was "Safe Motherhood".
The theme of 1989 was "School Health".
The theme of 1990 was "Nurses and Environment".
The theme of 1991 was "Mental Health – Nurses in Action".
The theme of 1992 was "Healthy Aging".
The theme of 1993 was "Quality, costs and Nursing".
The theme of 1994 was "Healthy Families for Healthy Nation".
The theme of 1995 was "Women's Health: Nurses Pave the Way".
The theme of 1996 was "Better Health through Nursing Research".
The theme of 1997 was "Healthy Young People = A Brighter Future".
The theme of 1998 was "Partnership for Community Health".
The theme of 1999 was "Celebrating Nursing's past, claiming the future".
The theme of 2000 was "Nurses – Always there for you".
The theme of 2001 was "Nurses, Always There for You: United against Violence".
The theme of 2002 was "Nurses Always There for You: Caring for Families".
The theme of 2003 was "Nurses: Fighting AIDS stigma, working for all".
The theme of 2004 was "Nurses: Working with the Poor; Against Poverty".
The theme of 2005 was "Nurses for Patients' Safety: Targeting counterfeit medicines and substandard medication".
The theme of 2006 was "Safe staffing saves lives".
The theme of 2007 was "Positive practice environments: Quality workplaces = quality patient care".
The theme of 2008 was "Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Primary Health Care".
The theme of 2009 was "Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Care Innovations".
The theme of 2010 was "Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Chronic Care".
The theme of 2011 was "Closing the Gap: Increasing Access and Equity".
The theme of 2012 was "Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action".
The theme of 2013 was "Closing the Gap: Millennium Development Goals".
The theme of 2014 was: "Nurses: A Force for Change – A Vital Resource for Health".
The theme of 2015 was "Nurses: A Force for Change: Care Effective, Cost Effective".
The theme of 2016 would be "Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems' resilience".

International Nurses Day Quotes

Some of the quotes on international nurses day are mentioned below:

"If love can't cure it, nurses can".
"Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring with or without even a prescription". – Val Saintsbury
"Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital". – Carrie Lafet
"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed". – Henrik Ibsca
"Nurses are the heartbeat of Healthcare".
"Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe". – Florence Nightingale
"Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion". – Florence Nightingale
"Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse". – Elizabeth Kenny
"I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women… no woman has excited passions among women more than I have". – Florence Nightingale
"Hospitals are only an intermediate stage of civilization". – Florence Nightingale
"Some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route". Elizabeth Kenny
"She said the object and color in the materials around us actually have a physical effect on us, on how we feel". – Florence Nightingale

6 Days Of National Nurses Week (6th to 12th May) : Facts You Probably Didn't Know

Intriguing and interesting!

Each year we celebrate a day where we recognize the work and dedication of nurses all around the world. The International Council of Nursing (ICN) celebrates the International Nurses Day on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth on May 12. In the United States, the National Nurses Week is celebrated from May 6 to 12 in honor of nurses nationwide and is lead by the American Nurses Association (ANA).

Just how much do we know about Nurses Week? We dug down our history books and found these six intriguing and interesting facts about nurses week you probably didn't know.

1. It took 40 years to recognize the National Nurses Week we've come to know today

Image via: rmcrealtors.com

It wasn't easy for nurses to receive the recognition they deserve. It took several presidents, congressional sponsorships, proclamations, proposal and about 40 years to celebrate the week we've come to know today as National Nurses Week.

It all started in 1953 when Dorothy Sutherland from the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare made a proposal to President Eisenhower to proclaim a Nurse Day for the following year. Unfortunately, the proclamation was not made. The following year, in 1954, a National Nurses Week did took place in observance of the 100th anniversary of Nightingale's Crimean mission. In 1955, a bill was introduced to continue National Nurses Week observances, but it was never acted upon and by the Congress and stopped making any resolutions for national weeks of various kind.

Fast-forward 17 years after, in 1972, a resolution was presented by the House to President Nixon for a National Registered Nurses Day, still nothing happened. In 1974, after the International Council of Nurses (ICN) proclaimed May 12th as International Nurse Day since they'd been celebrating that day for almost a decade, and President Nixon issued a White House proclamation that designated a National Nurse Week, after which New Jersey worked to make the celebration annual, with Governor Brendon Byrne declaring May 6th Nurses Day, and a private citizen named Edward Scanlon worked to promote the celebration on his own listing Nurses Day in Chase's Calendar of Annual Events.

In 1981, the ANA and other nursing organizations rallied to support another resolution from nurses in New Mexico through their Congressman, Manuel Lujan to have May 6, 1982 established as National Recognition Day for Nurses. In February of the following year, the ANA Board of Directors formally acknowledged May 6, 1982 as National Nurses Day, affirming a joint resolution of Congress that had designated May 6th as National Recognition Day for Nurses.

On March 25th that same year President Reagan signed a proclamation proclaiming May 6, 1982 National Recognition Day for Nurses. In one final step in 1990, ANA's Board of Directors expanded nurse recognition to a week-long celebration, declaring May 6 to 12, 1991 as National Nurses Week. In 1993 they designated May 6 to 12 as permanent dates for the annual National Nurses Week.

2. Different days of celebration for different nurses (even one for student nurses!)

Just as there are many specialized fields in nursing, there are also days in the nurses week that target these unique nursing fields. School nurses are honored on the Wednesday of the official May 6 to 12 National Nurses Week. Additionally, student nurses are recognized on May 8 as requested by the National Student Nurses Association way back in 1998. These dates were designated in 1993 by the ANA to enhance planning and help establish recognition of the annual event. It is also to encourage young people to consider nursing as a career.

The National Nurses Week culminates on May 12 in honor of the birth of Florence Nightingale. International Nurses Day is also celebrated on May 12.

3. Largest human nurse formation in the Philippines

Image via: Philippine Nurses Association

In celebration of the International Nurses Day, Filipino nurses form the largest human nurse formation that symbolizes unity of the country's nurses. For the last two years, the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) has hosted the event where nurses from the country wear their white uniforms during the formation to show their support. This 2015 is no different as the PNA is inviting nurses to to join their the third annual human nurse formation.

4. The Procession of the Lamp in United Kingdom

Image via: Florence Nightingale Foundation

In the United Kingdom, Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12th in honor of Nightingale's birth. And each year, there is a unique observance called the "Procession of the Lamp" at Westminster Abbey in London. During the ceremony, a lamp is taken from the Nurses' Chapel at the Abbey and is passed along a line of nurses from another. The lamp is a representation of the one used by Nightingale at Scutari (thus the name 'Lady with the Lamp'). The last person in line places the lamp on the High Altar in the Abbey. The passing of lamp symbolizes the passing of information and knowledge from one nurse to another. The nurses involved are usually scholars of The Florence Nightingale Foundation.

The ceremony also includes announcement of the Nurses' Roll of Honor – a record of names of British nurses who have died in conflict since the start of World War II.

5. Remembrance service for Nightingale

Image via: geograph.org.uk

On May 12 each year, there is a service of remembrance at St. Margaret's Church in East Wellow, Hampshire where the Nightingale family burial site is located. The church was founded in 1215, the year of the signing of the Magna Carta. Resting in one of the windows was the Scutari Cross, made of bullets from the Crimean War, beside it is a framed text which was hanging in Florence Nightingale's bedroom when she died. In 1991, the cross was stolen and was replaced with a fiberglass replica.

There is also a four-sided monument in the churchyard with inscriptions on each side for the four family members: Frances Nightingale (mother), William Edward Nightingale (father), Parthenope Frances Nightingale (sister), and Florence Nightingale where her name grave is simply inscribed with letters "F.N." and the words "Born 1820. Died 1910."

6. Removing Florence Nightingale from the celebrations

Throughout the recent years, there are several groups in the United Kingdom trying to remove the historical importance of Florence Nightingale in Nurses Day and Nurses Week celebrations. In 1999, delegates at the annual conference of Unison, Britain's largest trade union representing nurses and other public service workers, unanimously declared that nursing was long overdue for a more contemporary role model.

This sparked when there is an acute shortage of nurses in the UK. While there are many multiple reasons for the shortage, the Unison believe that the legacy of Nightingale is one of them. They feel that she "has held the nursing profession back to long," and represents "negative and the backward elements of nursing." Unison nurses even requested that the International Nurses Day celebrated on May 12th, be moved to a different date.

Fortunately, those nursing groups made no success as we are still celebrating Nurses Day and Nurses Week in honor of Florence Nightingale and the nurses of today.

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Posted by: Murli dhar Gupta <mdguptabpl@gmail.com>

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