So another Nurses’ Week has come and gone! Congratulations to all of my nursing colleagues who work in the vast and varied fields of nursing practice. We have survived yet another challenging year in the constantly evolving healthcare milieu!

All of us deserve a pat on the back. If you have not heard it this week, please allow me to be the cheerleader who will sing your praises to the high heavens! Each one of you has exemplified what it is to be that nurturing and calming presence in the midst of a seemingly non-stop pandemic.

Nurses’ Week always ends on May 12 because it is Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Florence Nightingale is to nursing as Hippocrates is to medicine. Popularly known as the “Lady with the Lamp,” she revolutionized nursing through the stringent practice of sanitation during the Crimean war. She gathered data and adjusted nursing care based on first-hand evidence she identified throughout those years. Doesn’t those sound like the early beginnings of statistics, informatics, and evidence-based practice?

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Nurses’ Week Theme

The International Council of Nurses identified this year’s theme as “ Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health.” In a nutshell, this calls for investment in nursing education, jobs, leadership, and service delivery. Obviously, the sting of the global shortage of nurses is not only felt by individual institutions. Rather, it affects the whole international nursing community.

Investment in nursing education, jobs, leadership, and service delivery are interconnected. Proper education is of utmost importance to prepare the new generation of nurses. That preparation translates to better provision of care to more complex and complicated cases. Furthermore, educating more nurses will minimize, if not remedy, the existing shortage in manpower.

There is a shortage of 5.9 million nurses pre-pandemic according to the World Health Organization. Another 13 million are needed globally within the next 10 years.

With those figures, organizations are competing to hire and, more importantly, retain, quality nurses. Investing in nursing jobs, therefore, should entail fair remuneration, better working conditions, and opportunities for advancement among others.

Nurses as Leaders

Nurses’ week reminds us of the importance of nursing leaders. This is not only about identifying leaders in our ranks. Rather, those nursing leaders will advocate for evidence-based initiatives benefiting the patients and colleagues. Furthermore, those leaders will also identify health information technology (HIT) tools that will help clinicians work smarter not harder.

Nursing leaders will represent the profession on the table of healthcare decision-makers. Unlike in the past when nurses sat in the background, it is high time for us to speak up for ourselves and our welfare. Our leaders, formal or not, should carry that torch on our behalf.

Credentials need a little improvement, but I’ll take it nonetheless

What Does Nurses’ Week Mean to Me?

Locally, it has been our tradition to honor those nurses who made difference in an individual patient’s case or at an organizational scale. There are so many unsung heroes in the whole nursing workforce. In fact, every nurse is a hero! Nevertheless, the recognition brings with it a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Yesterday, some of the honorees were graduates of our nurse residency program, those who earned advanced degrees, and those who presented at conferences. Furthermore, Daisy Awardees and the likes of us who completed the Excellence in Career Engagement and Learning were also recognized. It was a day of celebration for sure!

The Day After the Celebration (and Beyond)

A nurse’s work doesn’t stop. After trading our stethoscopes and laptops for certificates of recognition, the job continues. Clinicians got back to the bedside. Educators and informaticists returned to our responsibilities.

During rounding today, we discussed extensively the issue of the shortage of baby formulas and how it is affecting our local moms. As a former neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and Pediatric nurse, this hits home hard. I remembered times when parents have to try formula after formula when their babies vomited unable to tolerate the initial formula they were started with.

Of course, we encourage breastfeeding and human milk feeding. However, there are infants who need formula due to allergies, intolerance, or other gastric issues. We are trying to reach out to organizations that may be able to help out those moms and parents.

Nurses and the Societal Challenges

This current concern brings me to the realization that people’s socioeconomic and other factors affect healthcare on a global scale. Going back to the formula shortage concern, rich people will be able to afford formula despite the steep price. For those who are languishing due to the lack of supply and the sky-rocketing costs, it is not the same!

Some news broadcasters mention that some babies are now being fed regular milk. From a clinician’s perspective, those don’t meet the infants’ nutritional needs. What’s a nurse to do?

Present-day nurses cannot afford to stay silent when besieged by issues like this. It may affect just a small slice of the population but it has a ripple effect. That is the reason why nurses’ critical thinking skills should not only be focused on the now but should also consider the future.

That is how we should educate our nurses now. We have to prepare them for harder and more complicated challenges healthcare has in store for them. We may not have all the answers now, but research, education, and technology are within our reach if we only know how to properly utilize them.

Conclusion

I stated earlier that nurses are unsung heroes! We have been that for centuries and generations. It is not within our nature to seek appreciation and recognition. In fact, most people just had a  better idea of what nurses truly do on daily basis.

With that being said, it doesn’t hurt to recognize a nurse, not only during nurses’ week! Thank them for whatever they do for your family member perhaps, but more so for society. After all, the healthcare team will never be effective without having at least a single nurse as a cornerstone.

If you are a retired, current-day, or future nurse, my hat’s off to you! You have and continue to do a great job by providing safe, quality, and person-centered care to our patients, clients, and colleagues. Despite the challenges, we all thrive. Why?

Because we are, and will always be, NURSES!