Editor’s Letter
As many of you may already know, NurseRecruiter.com is now being operated under new ownership with a new staff. We are very excited to be involved and plan to take the site to a new level. We feel the timing is not insignificant as it has occurred so near National Nurses Week. We are delighted to be able to celebrate this important event with you for the first time in our history together, and hope to be commemorating National Nurses Week with you for many years to come.
Have a great National Nurses Week and a wonderful International Nurses Day and thank you for all you do every day!
Christine Thompson
NurseRecruiter.com
National Nurses Week
National Nurses Week begins May 6th and culminates on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12th. In 1965, the International Council on Nurses elected to use the day to publicly acknowledge and celebrate the enormous contributions that nurses have made and continue to make in all of our lives. Following their lead, the American Nurses Association expanded the day to a one week celebration. National Nurses Week and International Nurses Day have grown over the years and are now celebrated and recognized globally.
The ICN has taken, “Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action” as the 2012 International Nurses Day theme and has made an IND kit available for interested parties on their website.
The information packet from the ICN includes a poster, a 29 page article on identifying and implementing research models for evidence based nursing practices, and six attachments for informational and educational purposes.
The American Nurses Association has their own National Nurses Week media kit with items and articles that can be downloaded and used by facilities in their own celebrations on their site.
Your facility’s celebration will likely depend on your budget, and most will have budgeted ahead for National Nurses Week. But, no matter the budget, there are many creative and fun ideas that can be put into place to honor our nurses. Some facilities choose to utilize National Nurses Week as a time to honor their nurses with special events each day, such as catered lunches, healthy smoothies, bagel breakfasts, and afternoon treats. Some organizations may choose to pass out gifts such as flowers in bud vases, nursing pins, tote bags, water bottles, or gift cards to places like Starbucks, or local gift cards for a free massage or spa treatment. Management could write personalized notes of appreciation, have beautiful bouquets sent to each nurses’ station, or publish thoughtful open letters in the newsletter. Another fun way to celebrate is to pick a topic and have nurses submit personal essays to compete for prizes and inclusion in the company newsletter. No matter how you decide to recognize National Nurses Week this year, the ANA website has a number of excellent suggestions for gift giving ideas, thoughts on raising public awareness, and other fun activities.
Florence Nightingale
Who was Florence Nightingale?
Florence Nightingale was one of the first nurses as we understand them. She was born May 12, 1820 into a very wealthy family British family. She set aside the traditional female roles of the time, much to the chagrin of her family, to follow her heart into what she called God’s calling to “…do good for Him…” and in 1844 she stepped into the field of nursing.
For what is she most known?
Ten years after she began nursing, she and 38 volunteer nurses that she had trained went to the Ottoman Empire to help soldiers who had been wounded in the Crimean War. This is where she was named “The Lady with the Lamp”. It was through her experience treating the wounded, and later her analysis of data that led her to realize it was the filthy living conditions that led to so many needless deaths. She publicized the need for sanitary living conditions, and began to implement sanitation in treatment and facility alike.
What else did she accomplish?
She opened Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in 1860, with money raised by donations into the Nightingale Fund. She wrote a 138-page book that was published in 1859, called, “Notes on Nursing” that reported on topics such as ventilation, warming, sanitation, or “health in houses”, simple management, noise reduction, variety in environment, nutrition, bed and bedding, lighting, cleanliness of rooms, personal hygiene, hopes and advices, and the observation of the sick. It became the nursing textbook of the era. She revolutionized the field of nursing. She went on to write “Notes on Hospitals”, and “Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army”. Her application of nurses helping the poor in the work houses was said to have been instrumental in creation of the National Health Service in Britain. She was consulted during the Civil War about field medicine, and was a mentor to America’s first trained nurse.
Why do we celebrate her birthday?
Florence Nightingale is celebrated as the founder of modern nursing practices which include sanitation, education, compassion, a dedicated commitment to patient care and excellent hospital administration.
Nursing Facts and Figures
Total number of licensed RNs in the U.S………3.1 million
Total number of licensed RNs in the U.S. employed in nursing……..2.6 million
Percentage of employed RNs working in hospitals……….62.2 %
Average age of employed RNs……45.5 years
Percentage of RNs age 50 or older…….45%
Largest age group of employed RNs (5-year increments)………..50-54 years
Percentage of RNs from a racial/ethnic minority group…………16.8%
Percentage of male RNs……6.6%
Average annual salary for RNs in 2008…..$66,973
Projected job growth in nursing, 2008-2018…………..581,500 jobs
Projected percentage growth in nursing employment, 2008-2018……22%
Nursing jobs as percentage of projected job growth in all industries, 2008-2018….3.8%
Number of RNs prepared as APRNs….. 250,527
Percentage of APRNs who are nurse practitioners…………63.2 %
Percentage of RNs with baccalaureate or higher degree…..50 %
Percentage of RNs with a master’s or doctoral degree 13.2 %
Enrollment increase in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs, 2008-2009…3.5 %
Projected shortage of nurses to meet health care demand by 2025…..260,000
National nurse faculty vacancy rate, 2010…..6.9%
Percentage of nurse educators age 50 or older…..60%
Number of qualified nursing school applications turned away, 2009…..54,991
Nursing Statistics taken from the ANA Fact Sheet: “Nursing by the Numbers: The RN Workforce”