Depending on who you ask nurses should be celebrated every day. There is Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12, and there is Nurse’s Day on May 6th. And the ANA wants us to celebrate the entire month.
Remember last time they wanted to celebrate the entire YEAR? And what a year it was!
Granted this was 2020. And we all know what started that year.
I’m good with a week.
Nurses remain the top trusted job in the United States.
However, the profession has slipped to 79%. We are still the most trusted. But the number is dipping.
I blame social media. And the anti-vaxxers.
Both, it is both driving down the number. And the killer nurse in the UK, and the increased media spotlight on honest to goodness human mistakes that happen when you are staffing a hospital 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
Every single nurse I have ever had the pleasure to work with deserves accolades. Even the ones I didn’t and still don’t care for.
Raise a glass to those nurses who line up to care for the ones who need it. And do all the jobs that others won’t do, because they are hard, and sometimes gross, and can be soul-sucking. Who continually seek out learning and enrichment, not for advancement or to get off the nursing floor. But because we care. \
Not you, nurses in Florida who bought their diplomas without putting in the hours studying and the hours learning how to care for hospital patients. You, you should be ashamed of yourselves. We all know you aren’t and see nothing wrong in what you did. But try.
To the other nurses, raise a glass and toast your coworkers and yourselves. Healthcare would not be the same without us.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 