Nurse's Day

Guest Post by Terry Murphy, RN

For only the second time in 33 years, I find that I will not be on duty for Nurse’s Day or Nurse’s Week. My first missed event was in 1979, as I had shattered my left lower leg two days prior while sliding into second base. Not only was I called out, I was off duty for two months. National Nurse’s Week was a rather new recognition back then, having been proclaimed into existence by Richard M .Nixon in 1974. I do not remember missing it. I do not remember knowing about it.,We certainly were not honored by our hospitals back then, but, perhaps, they did not know about it either.

Today, as Nurse’s Week is eclipsed by Hospital Week in most healthcare organizations, the recognition that nurses receive is considered to be “balanced” by an effort to honor healthcare workers as a whole, as partners with nurses and physicians for the care they provide to patients in many different settings. With the effort to ensure that all people contributing to the continuum of patient care feel valued, I must wonder if nurses today feel somewhat “diminished” by the reduced intensity of focus on nurses during Nurse’s Week. Are other members of the healthcare team feeling more valued as a result of this shift? Is this a further step away from the legacy that Florence Nightingale left us when she slipped from her earthly bonds in 1910? What are we doing, as nurses, to sustain the focus on nursing during Nurse Week celebrations? Have we become too comfortable with the global Hospital Week “perks” (food, trinkets, drawings, contests) to celebrate the true meaning of Nurse’s Day and Nurse’s Week? Do we take this time to pause and reflect upon whether we are good stewards of the profession Florence created for us in the mid-nineteenth century?

This year, I would ask, what have YOU done for nursing lately? I ask this as I seek new employment and meet nurses all over California and hear their laments, their concerns, their quest for effective leadership and their desire for recognition. New nursing graduates cannot find jobs. I watched one young woman turned away from an HR desk with this statement: “We have no interest in new graduates this year.” The candidate mumbled: ‘Well, I was just checking back to see if anything had changed.” She cast me a sideways glance, as I sat on a chair waiting to be seen, myself, and lowered her eyes in dejection. I could only wonder if I was next to be brushed aside by a curt: “We have no interest in older nurses this year.” In one of my interviews, I was asked what I would do if someone asked me to do something that was unethical or illegal. I answered: “I would say NO. Emphatically.” The follow-up question was even more concerning: “But what if this was the Chief of Staff, or the CEO?” My response was unchanged. Several of the people on the interview panel looked surprised as they furtively marked their scorecards. What does that say about our health care system if this is a screening question?

What have you done for nursing lately? I ask this question again as I found in most interview processes that the focus is on character, not substance or experience. In Florence Nightingale’s time, women of good character did not become nurses. That Florence did was a bit of a scandal, but because of her bold vision, nursing left the confines of the cloisters and the dungeons of the asylums. That this exodus led to the battlefields of the Crimea and the infection repositories of the inner city hospitals of the early Industrial Age is of minor distraction. That is one of the reasons why early in the history of nursing, as it sought to become a respected profession, and up to the Second World War, nursing students could not be married. To do so risked expulsion from the training. Nursing was all about sacrifice, servitude, obedience, and yes, character. A nurse could not simultaneously serve two masters: husband and profession. It is not surprising then, that even today, nurses are held to a higher standard of scrutiny in screening interviews. We are still the standard bearers for service and integrity in the workplace. We are counted upon to know when to exercise the emphatic NO. And lo and behold! We have learned to serve many masters at the same time.

What have you done for nursing lately? I close with this question as a challenge to us all. Have we moved our profession forward, enough, as individuals and as a collective force? I do not speak of unionization here, I speak of tangible steps taken to advance the practice of nursing. Advanced degrees. Certification. Publication. Mentorship. Stewardship. Legislation. Research. Teaching. The possibilities for contributing are endless. As I watch colleagues rail against the changes we are facing as a profession, I summon my inner Florence. What will I do on May 12th to celebrate her birthday? Will I pause for a moment of silence at noon like nurses all over the world are encouraged to do in honor of the profession and as a reaffirmation to the principles of nursing? Or will I just grab another handful of kettlecorn and feel valued?

Don’t worry, Florence. I’m still on your team. I am still a woman of good character (I think) and I am still married. I will pause, as always, at noon on your birthday, which is now also International Nurse’s Day, and feel privileged to be a nurse and honor your memory. But, I may also have cake. After all, it is your birthday. Those icing rosettes are celebrations in themselves!