Every year on May 12th, International Nurses Day is commemorated to honour nurses’ critical and life-saving contributions around the world. Nurses play an important role in healthcare, from supporting doctors to treating patients in hospitals or at home who are healing or dying.
Nurses are also educators, instructing individuals interested in becoming nurses. Florence Nightingale’s birthday falls on International Nurses Day. We’ll see why that is in the following sections.
Florence Nightingale, a British nurse and statistician, is credited with founding modern nursing. She was born on May 12, 1820.
Nightingale was from a wealthy Victorian British family. She had a wealthy childhood, inspired by her family’s large social circle, which encouraged her to develop a liberal-humanitarian and feminist worldview. During her youth, she travelled widely throughout Europe and North Africa.
This year, 2022, marks the 202nd anniversary of her birth. During the Crimean War in Turkey, Florence offered crucial support to British and ally troops.
To provide a safer atmosphere for patients and aid in their faster recovery, Nightingale emphasised the need of cleanliness and good sanitary conditions.
International Nurses Day was established to honour Florence Nightingale’s birth anniversary and her groundbreaking achievements in nursing and social reform.
She volunteered to be a nurse to aid wounded soldiers during the Crimean War (1854-1856). According to the British National Army Museum website, she joined as a ‘Superintendent of the Female Nurses in the Hospitals in the East.’
Florence Nightingale was awarded the ‘Florence Nightingale Jewel’ by Queen Victoria for her efforts and dedication during the Crimean War.
During the Crimean War, Nightingale and Queen Victoria corresponded by letter, persuading the Queen to change the military hospital system in 1857.
She continued to campaign for hospital reform and social fairness in the United Kingdom after her work in Scutari.
Around this period, she became to be known as “The Lady with the Lamp” in Scutari, Turkey, which is now Üsküdar.
Florence was observed wandering along the beds of wounded troops with a lantern in her hand, assessing the guys to see if they required assistance, according to the British newspaper The Times.
She advocated for cleanliness improvements in nursing throughout her life, highlighting the need for skilled nurses and finances for better nursing facilities to her superiors.
The subject of this year’s International Nurses Day, according to the International Council of Nurses’ website, is ‘Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health.’
The theme echoes Florence’s concerns, which she expressed to the editor of The New York Times in a letter dated April 14, 1876.
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