National Nurses Week

Kaiser Nurses Know How to Thrive

National Nurses Week (May 6 - 12) concludes each year on the birthday of history's most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale. Just imagine what "The Lady with the Lamp" (born May 12, 1820) would think of the quantum leap nursing has taken in the century since she revolutionized the profession, to say nothing of the advances some of Kaiser Santa Rosa's nurses have witnessed.

Technology used in nursing has changed dramatically within the past 10 years. Electronic medical records (especially the KP HealthConnect system) have made patient data much easier to come by. Nurses don't have to rely on an incomplete paper trail to know what care patients have received, or what medications they have been prescribed. More complete, accurate information helps them make better decisions about patient care.

Many of these technological changes have also created a culture change. Current nursing practices will be forever changed as nurses might wonder how they ever survived with all that paper!

In the same way, advances in medicine and pharmacy have changed the setting in which nurses practice. Twenty or so years ago, a patient undergoing cataract surgery would face a three to four day inpatient stay. Today, that same patient will be in and out of the facility in three hours, with excellent results. Nurses can do so much more now in the outpatient setting than they would have done a few years ago.

That's not to say that modern technology has replaced good, old-fashioned skill and sound judgment. Modern tools help to reinforce what is at the core of any nursing practice - the human touch. This connection is what makes nurses so important - RNs, LVNs, and NPs included. The art of nursing hasn't really changed; the ready access to patient information, non-duplication of records, and real-time charting will mean nurses can spend more time with the patient.

Another significant change in nursing, as in other aspects of the medical field, is the trend toward increased specialization. There are so many new opportunities for nurses now. Nurses have taken an expanded role in health care, with a wide variety of options available allowing them to become an even greater resource to both doctors and patients.

However, greater opportunities for nurses are accompanied simultaneously by new challenges. For example, the aging population creates a growing demand for health care services while a shortage of nurses exists both locally and nationwide. Waiting lists exist for applicants to many college nursing programs. In Sonoma County there are really good programs at both Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University, however more additional qualified faculty is needed to train incoming nurses.

The publicity generated by National Nurses Week may inspire even more young people, and even those not so young, to pursue nursing. In the past decade, many talented individuals from the high-tech industry and other fields have chosen nursing as a second career. With the right education, nurses today enjoy unending possibilities.

History of National Nurses Week

The nursing profession has been supported and promoted by the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. Each of ANA's state and territorial nurses associations promotes the nursing profession at the state and regional levels. Each conducts celebrations on these dates to recognize the contributions that nurses and nursing make to the community.

1953 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. The proclamation was never made.

1978 New Jersey Governor Brendon Byrne declared May 6 as "Nurses Day." Edward Scanlan, of Red Bank, N.J., took up the cause to perpetuate the recognition of nurses in his state. Mr. Scanlan had this date listed in Chase's Calendar of Annual Events. He promoted the celebration on his own.

1982 President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation on March 25, proclaiming "National Recognition Day for Nurses" to be May 6, 1982.

1990 The ANA Board of Directors expanded the recognition of nurses to a week-long celebration, declaring May 6 - 12, 1991, as National Nurses Week.

1993 The ANA Board of Directors designated May 6 - 12 as permanent dates to observe National Nurses Week in 1994 and in all subsequent years.

1996 The ANA initiated "National RN Recognition Day" on May 6, 1996, to honor the nation's indispensable registered nurses for their tireless commitment 365 days a year. The ANA encourages its state and territorial nurses associations and other organizations to acknowledge May 6, 1996 as "National RN Recognition Day."

Nursing Facts

• There are nearly 2.9 million registered nurses in the United States. And, 2.4 million of them are actively employed.
• The American Nurses Association was founded in 1896
• According to projections released in February 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RNs top the list of the 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth in the years 2002-2012. Although RNs have listed among the top 10 growth occupations in the past, this is the first time in recent history that RNs have ranked first. These 10-year projections are widely used in career guidance, in planning education and training programs and in studying long-range employment trends. According to the BLS report, more than 2.9 million RNs will be employed in the year 2012, up 623,000 from the nearly 2.3 million RNs employed in 2002. However, the total job openings, which include both job growth and the net replacement of nurses, will be more than 1.1 million. This growth, coupled with current trends of nurses retiring or leaving the profession and fewer new nurses, could lead to a shortage of more than one million nurses by the end of this decade.
• There are over 240,400 advanced practice nurses in the United States. Of these, approximately 144,250 are nurse practitioners, 69,000 are clinical nurse specialists, 14,600 are both nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, 13,700 are nurse midwives, and 32,500 are nurse anesthetists.
• Research indicates that advanced practice registered nurses can provide 60 to 80 percent of primary care services as well as or better than physicians and at a lesser cost.
• 49 states and the District of Columbia allow advanced practice nurses to prescribe medications.
• The January 5, 2000, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported the results of a study which revealed patients fared just as well when treated by nurse practitioners as they did when treated by physicians.
• The nation's nurses rank first for their honesty and integrity, with 82 percent of Americans rating them "high" or "very high," according to a 2005 Gallup Poll. Nurses have consistently rated first every year but one after being added to the list in 1999.
• The American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Nursing Services Recognition Program offers guidelines designed to shift hospital administrators' focus from expensive, short-sighted recruitment efforts to meaningful retention strategies. Hospitals that have been designated as "magnets" have been found in studies to attract and retain professional nurses who experienced a high degree of professional and personal satisfaction through their practice. "Magnet" criteria can be used by nurses and administrators to assess their own facilities for improvements. Read about Kaiser Santa Rosa's journey towards Magnet Status.