WHY INTERNATIONAL NURSES’ DAY IS IMPORTANT
International Nurses’ Day is celebrated around the world on 12th May of each year to mark the contributions nurses make to the society and the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, who is widely considered the founder of modern nursing. The International Nurses’ Day started in year 1965. Each year a service is held in West minster Abbey in London. During the service a symbolic lamp is taken from the nurses’ chapel in the Abbey and handed from one nurse to another, thence to the Dean who places it on the high Altar.
This signifies the passing of knowledge from one nurse to another at St. Margaret’s church at East Wellow in Hampshire where Florence Nightingale is buried. The purpose of this celebration is to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of our nurses and their colleagues all around the world.
It is a day for nurses to feel proud and the rest of the world to say thank you. Also a chance to build relationship, celebrate their success and innovation all over the world. It is an opportunity to encourage nurses all over the whole world to make the health systems stronger and bring services to local communities that needs them most, making plans in training more health workers especially nurses to provide these vital skills.
During the course of the celebration, nurses are educated to understand the complex nature of maintaining health and wellness and the impact of psychosocial and socio – economic factors such as poverty, unemployment, ethnicity and many more, they see the context for well – being and accordingly act in ways to reach beyond the immediate problems.
They also highlight the role of nurses in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to help shape and deliver sustainable goals and outcomes beyond 2015, engaging in advocacy and lobbying. A day nurses worldwide are being informed about the importance of being involved in the development of any program introduced to improve health services as they have the practical knowledge of how health service delivery can be designed, coordinated and effectively implemented. It is a day the nurses are encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and become active contributors and innovators in the health care system, they explore and discuss both the professional and personal attributes that characterized the creativity and innovation needed to lead the way in transforming the changing state of healthcare.
They provide the important information that contemporary clinical leaders need to deliver exceptional care in today’s changing environment, for instance learning how they can use five essential leadership characteristic to be successful in their professional pursuits, explore how to incorporate four critical attributes needed to lead care innovation, discover three important personal leadership skills vital for clinical leaders and transforming healthcare through nursing leaderships.
They also stress the issue of nurses embracing new technologies, resolving emerging issues, accepting ever – changing roles in their profession, leading the way for their patients, colleagues, organization, industry and healthcare as a whole. In conclusion, International Nurses’ Day plays an important role in building capacity across the nursing profession and in translating evidence to practice in patients care, ensuring that nursing fulfils its mandate of providing the best possible care while using the available resources gathered on the International Nurses’ Day in their field of practice. Also the issues of upgrading school of nursing and midwifery certificate, provision of admission for nurses in degree awarding institutions round the whole world in order to promote proficiency and competency in nursing. This should be taken into consideration in forthcoming 2014 International Nurses’ Day.
By UGWUONA JULIETH FCT SCHOOL OF NURSING GWAGWALADA ABUJA fctsonabuja@yahoo.com +2348067617075