This year’s
National Nurses Week will be celebrated May 6-12 in honor of the
2.7 million registered nurses throughout the United States. The
theme this year is "Nurses are the True Spirit of Caring,"
and the American Nurses Association plans to highlight nurse staffing
issues.
The group’s
labor arm, United American Nurses, will educate the public about
the effects of the staffing crisis on public health care. United
American Nurses will release the UAN Guide to Staffing,
a publication for nurses on staffing guidelines, regulatory agencies
and ideal staffing contract language.
National Nurses
Week will kick off with National RN Recognition Day (May 6), when
all RNs are encouraged to wear the ANA RN pin or any other pins
that identify them as registered nurses.
The origins
of National Nurses Week date back to 1953, when Dorothy Sutherland
of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare sent a
proposal to President Eisenhower to proclaim a "Nurse Day"
in October of the following year. But the proclamation was never
made.
In 1954, U.S.
Rep. Frances Bolton of Ohio sponsored a bill for a nurse week,
but Congress did not take action on the proposal. Congress discontinued
its practice of joint resolutions for national theme weeks.
In January
1974, the International Council of Nurses proclaimed that May
12––Florence Nightingale’s birthday–– would be "International
Nurse Day."
The following
month, President Nixon issued a proclamation designating National
Nurse Week. Seven years later, the ANA rallied to support a resolution
initiated by nurses in New Mexico. The resolution established
May 6, 1982, as National Recognition Day for Nurses. President
Reagan signed a proclamation.
In 1990, the
ANA backed a celebration from May 6-12 as National Nurses Week.