Health Field

Nurses Week begins tomorrow, May 6 (Nurses Day) in the U.S. and on May 12 (Nurses Day) in Canada. In Australia, it begins today with International Midwives Day and continues through May 12 which is International Nurses Day. Join in the celebration of nurses everywhere!

There is a tremendous shortage of nurses throughout the world and it is only going to worsen as the population grows and ages and demands more and better health care.

It is hoped that by bringing attention to the nursing profession during Nurses day and Nurses Week celebrations that more young people will consider nursing careers, and others will consider a second or third career opportunity in nursing.

Issues of pay and working conditions have long been problems for nurses and affected retention of staff. Improvements have come a long way in recent years, but there is still more to be done.

Improving patient safety and reducing medical errors has long been a goal of the entire health care industry. Nurses fight the battle of safe staffing ratios everyday. The U.S. Congress has taken up the issue of safe staffing with the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2007 (S. 73/H.R. 4138).

The American Nurses Association urges all U.S. nurses to honor themselves and their colleagues this week by contacting their legislators and asking them to co-sign these bills. Private citizens can honor nurses by doing the same. Email, call or FAX your legislators today! Thank you!!!

Nurses worldwide should also be encouraged to contact their government officials and ask them to honor nurses by working to improve working conditions and patient safety by implementing safe staffing laws.

More about Nurses Week....