International Nurses Day 2022
/HAPPY INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY
As a way of commemorating Florence Nightingale's legacy, we celebrate her birth on 12 May. On this day, we also recognise our everyday heroes, nurses.
We can easily assume that doctors are the most important part of our healthcare system when we think of its hierarchy. Nurses are the true heroes when it comes to healthcare. Nurses are responsible for patients' safety, welfare, and recovery. In exchange for the times we need them the most, they sacrifice irreplaceable moments with their loved ones.
International Nurses Day: A Voice to Lead
On International Nurses Day (12 May 2022), the theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Invest in Nursing and protect rights to ensure global health. The nursing profession must be protected, supported, and invested in to strengthen health systems around the world.
ICN (International Council of Nurses) President Dr Pamela Cipriano said:
“Nurses have given their all in the fight against COVID-19, Ebola, in disaster areas and in war zones. Yet, they continue to face understaffing, lack of protection, heavy workloads, and low wages. It is time now to take real action to address workplace safety, protect nurses and safeguard their physical and mental health.
‘Women form 70% of the global health workforce, but only 25% of leadership roles. i They bear the burden of lower-paid, undervalued jobs and unpaid care and domestic work. We can help to empower women and promote gender equality by investing in nursing. ‘Recent reports have shown that investment in nursing is needed now if we are to meet the healthcare challenges of the future. We can no longer continue to undervalue and underinvest in nursing. Now is the time for action.
‘We have the recommendations from WHO, which have been agreed by the Member States. We know what to do. We need to move on from the talk and see action to support our nurses – and that is exactly what ICN’s IND toolkit provides.”
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Florence
Nightingale (1820-1910)
Florence Nightingale is responsible for elevating the profession of nursing to an honourable status. Known as “The Lady with the Lamp,” she was a British nurse, social reformer and statistician best known as the founder of modern nursing. Her efforts to reform healthcare greatly influenced the quality of care in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
Dorothea Dix drastically changed the medical field during her lifetime by tirelessly fighting to end the inhumane treatment for mental health patients. She created the first generation of American mental asylums, and openly challenged 19th-century notions of reform and illness.
Sybrand de Beer (81)
He is the first male nurse to become a matron in 1974. He is grateful and honored for his God-given strength which has enabled him to continue to work at the age of 75.
Ruth Bomvana (1922-2020)
She was fearless and faithful. Ruth paved the future of South African nurses by becoming the first black nursing lecturer in South Africa and one of the country’s top nurses.
Mary Seacole (1805-1881)
Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole became a hero during the Crimean War. While Florence Nightingale’s famous military hospital was hundreds of miles from the fighting, Mary was able to visit the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to nurse the wounded. Indeed, she nursed sick soldiers so kindly that they called her ‘Mother Seacole’. Mary Seacole is a great role model. Her values of good citizenship (she always wanted to help the sick and wounded), entrepreneurship (her drive took her to the Crimea under her own steam), and achievement (she remains one of history’s greatest figures) hold true today.
Sr. Henrietta Stockdale (1847-1911)
Sr. Stockdale introduced the first professional training of nurses in South Africa at Carnarvon hospital. She had an unwavering commitment to being a strong leader. She contributed to making South Africa become the first country in the world to make legal provisions for the curriculum for nurses and midwives, approval of training schools, as well as standardized examinations for entry into the register.
Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)
Betsy Fry, known as the 'Angel of Prisons', Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the treatment of prisoners, especially in the treatment of female prisoners. She helped the homeless as well, by establishing a nightly shelter in London where volunteers visited the homes of the poor, to provide assistance and comfort. Success led to the plan being copied in other districts and towns across Britain and now all over the world.
Edith Cavell (1865-1915)
A nurse and humanitarian, Edith Cavell was born in England. During WWI, she performed her duty as a nurse by helping the wounded soldiers from both sides, and later she was executed for helping and sheltering Allied soldiers. Protests and condemnations echoed around the world following her execution.
Cecilia Makiwane (1880-1919)
Cecilia Makiwane was the first African registered professional nurse in South Africa and an early activist in the struggle for women's rights.
Cicely Saunders (1918-2005)
Founded the first modern hospice and, more than anybody else, was responsible for establishing the discipline and the culture of palliative care. She introduced effective pain management and insisted that dying people needed dignity, compassion and respect, as well as rigorous scientific methodology in the testing of treatments. Saunders introduced the idea of "total pain," which included the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of distress. She regarded each person, whether patient or staff, as an individual to the end.
