A voice to lead: International Nurses Day 2022
4 min read
Just about every calendar year, on 12 May, I acquire great pleasure in celebrating and exhibiting my appreciation for nursing colleagues performing across the wellness and care system on Worldwide Nurses Day. This date marks the start day of Florence Nightingale in 1820.
Quite a few of us quickly think of Nightingale keeping a lamp. In your mind’s eye, if you know a minimal more about her background, you may perhaps spot her in Crimea, encouraging the wounded British soldiers. Handful of persons – or much less than she warrants – know to credit rating her for the immensely significant public wellbeing leadership job which she played. She recognised that also quite a few men and women were being dying from poor sanitation and the absence of successful an infection prevention management interventions.
It was not till I started off doing the job in general public overall health that I absolutely appreciated how Nightingale experienced employed statistics to obtain main health and fitness reform. Owning collected clinic mortality info for 2 years, although out in Crimea, Nightingale used a then groundbreaking way to existing her findings. Employing her rose diagrams, she was in a position to illustrate that most men and women ended up dying from very poor sanitation and an infection, which was deemed mainly preventable.
I also feel about the bravery and management of Mary Jane Seacole, a nurse whose operate and impact had been missing in time because of her colour. Seacole, born 23 November 1805, confirmed huge bravery in placing up the British Hotel and in viewing the entrance line to deliver treatment to wounded troopers all through the Crimean war.
Her story has ultimately arrive to gentle and she rightly deserves to be remembered for her bravery, tenacity and inclusivity. This is one thing which has hardly ever been additional critical to our nursing career, as we recognise the big inequalities which exist across our communities.
Celebrating nursing heritage
So, in 2022, we should celebrate both Seacole and Nightingale, who demonstrated that our nursing occupation could be a voice to guide. They have been courageous leaders, statisticians and general public health and fitness pioneers who challenged the world to do things differently to help save and boost life.
Our obtain to data has surely enhanced given that the 1800s and so has our comprehending of the big triggers of untimely morbidity and mortality. We have also state-of-the-art our understanding of the evidenced dependent interventions which can be utilised to minimize preventable demise and sick overall health throughout the daily life study course, from preconception to more mature age. Even so, there is nevertheless a tendency for our career to emphasis on the administration and remedy of sickness and ill wellbeing, relatively than us inserting an equivalent concentrate on avoiding, safeguarding and promoting the public’s overall health.
As the planet commences to recuperate from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be crucial for the nursing career to take into consideration the lessons learnt and what requires to change to enable us to certainly make back much better and fairer.
The pandemic has delivered us all with an possibility to see with bigger clarity that all nurses play an important community overall health job, no matter of their speciality or placing. It is now necessary that we develop on this understanding and think about the means in which we can just take a greater role in blocking ailment, shielding well being and endorsing wellbeing. The nursing job will also participate in an vital role in addressing the widening health and fitness inequalities which has been created at any time clearer by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This International Nurses Day I will rejoice nursing colleagues from the past – a heritage we can be very pleased of. I will also just take enjoyment in thanking all the colleagues in the present and foreseeable future who are making on our solid observe file as a profession and who are, collectively, a voice to guide.
Nursing is an astounding occupation and I am very pleased to be element of the most dependable job. We nurses will participate in an important part in driving a decade of transformation and alter in the 2020s, which will final result in a lot more people living more time and more healthy life, regardless of wherever you live and how your everyday living started. Centre to this achievement is for all nurses to see on their own as general public wellbeing professionals who, like Mary and Florence, can act with bravery and candour to enhance health results for absolutely everyone.
Pleased Global Nurses Working day!
