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National Nurses Week highlights profession

  • Published
  • By Rebecca Patton
  • American Nurses Association President
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The American Nurses Association's National Nurses Week is May 6-12 with the theme, Nurses: Building a Healthy America. 

This annual celebration is a tribute to all the men and women who provide compassionate and quality care for their communities. 

Today's nurses must have the strength to care for patients during times of disaster and crisis, the commitment to remain involved in continuing education throughout their careers and the compassion to provide hands-on patient care at the bedside--as they have done throughout the centuries. Moreover, at 2.9 million strong, nurses represent the largest group of health care workers in America, and they have the power to achieve much-needed reform in nursing and in health care. That is why it is important to take time out during National Nurses Week to thank nurses for what they do and to remind the public just how vital our nation's nurses are to patients, their families and society. 

The ANA supports: 

- Establishing staffing levels that promote a safe and healthy working environment for nurses and to ensure the highest possible patient care. To support safe staffing, ANA has launched a national campaign to help fight for safe staffing legislation. Safe staffing information is available at www.safestaffingsaveslives.org. This Web site serves as a one-stop source of helpful information with user-friendly tools. On the site, people will be able to find ANA's "Principles on Safe Staffing," background research on safe staffing, federal and state legislation and ANA's legislative and legal action. 

- A restructured health care system that does the following: Enhances consumer access to services by delivering primary health care in community-based settings, fosters consumer responsibility for personal health, self care, and informed decision making in selecting health care services, facilitates utilization of the most cost-effective providers and therapeutic options in the most appropriate settings. 

- Increasing interest and support for addressing educational preparation for the RN workforce. Evidence shows that higher levels of nursing education are linked with lower patient mortality rates, fewer errors and greater job satisfaction among RNs. 

Celebrating NNW, beginning with National Nurses Day May 6 and concluding with International Nurses Day May 12, is an opportunity to take stock and take pride in what nurses accomplish as nurses and hopefully to inspire others to choose this challenging and fulfilling profession.