Celebrating Annual National Nurses Week in May
Date: July 16, 2023
This week is exceptional for our school and many hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and other institutions. These places cannot operate without the help of professional nurses.
National Nurses Week
Many may not know that the week of May 6 through May 12 is celebrated as National Nurses Week. This week is in honor of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Moreover, the week commemorates Nightingale’s birthday, May 12, 1820.
“The Lady with the Lamp” is remembered for tending to wounded soldiers at nighttime during the Crimean War. By and large, this English lady founded the first nursing school in Saint Thomas’s Hospital in London in 1860.
Little-known Fact
It’s a little-known fact, but Nightingale was also a writer and a statistician. Yet, she became most known for the famous “Nightingale Pledge.” This pledge is something nursing students take on their graduation day.
Born Into a Wealthy Family
Some may not realize this, but Florence Nightingale was born into a wealthy upper-class British family. She was named after the city where she was born. At an early age, Florence showed high intelligence and promise. Others said learning came easy to her, and she excelled in mathematics and sciences.
Her Calling
At 24 years old, Florence received her calling. Despite her parents’ distress over her vocational decision, she refused to become a wife and a mother. Instead, she chose to devote her entire life to helping others.
She began her work taking care of the sick. Later she served as a superintendent at the Institute for Sick Gentlewomen’s Care. However, Florence Nightingale made her most prominent contributions during the war in Crimea. For the war effort, she helped fight malnutrition and inadequate supplies. She also educates against exhaustion which caused high death rates among wounded soldiers.
A Legacy
Her humanitarian legacy is what our students inherit today when they take the oath written by her so many years ago.
During a typical ceremony, future nurses light candles with the reflections of flames on their cheeks. With excited anticipation, future nurses repeat the pledge after their respected nurse instructor. Everyone’s heart stops for a second as they catch their breaths in this spiritual and magical moment. It is a moment to be remembered forever and carried throughout their lives, professional and personal. Regardless of where they go, a nurse never stops being a nurse. He or she never shuts off the passion and duty of service to others.
The Pledge
While the Nightingale Pledge has been revised several times, the 1893 pledge went something like this:
I solemnly pledge myself
“Before God and, in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life
in purity and to practice my profession faithfully.
I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and
will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.
I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and
will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family
affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling.
With loyalty, will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work and
devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.” 1
The Caring Profession
Taking care of those around them, devoting their lives to serving others, and changing and saving lives, physically, emotionally, and spiritually is what nurses live out. It is what our nursing students learn today. They are being formed to become caring, compassionate people, knowledgeable, and skilled in helping those in need.
We Trust Our Nurses
This week, we are celebrating the founder of modern nursing and all our nation’s nurses. Young and old, men and women, tall and small—all are critical. We put our lives in their hands. We trust them with our future, and they seldom let us down. They give themselves generously and selflessly. Nurses are our day-to-day heroes.
Thank You
To all our nurses, our heroes—THANK YOU!
Citation
1 The Truth About Nursing. “The Florence Nightingale Pledge.” Truthaboutnursing.org, The Truth About Nursing, Inc., 2014. (Accessed July 16, 2023.)
