National Nurses Week May 6 – 12
Follow and join the conversation with #NationalNursesWeek, #NursesWeek and #SafeNursesRock.
Led by the American Nursing Association (@ANANursingWorld), National Nurses Week is May 6 – 12. This week long celebration always concludes on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. During the week, May 8 is National Student Nurses Day and the Wednesday is National School Nurse Day. National Nurses Week promotes the nursing profession and encourages celebrations to recognize the contributions of nurses at the local, state, and national level. It was first proposed to President Eisenhower in 1953 by Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare but a proclamation was never made. More attempts were made to declare a National Nurses Day throughout the following decades. Finally, in 1982, a proclamation was signed by President Ronald Reagan proclaiming “National Recognition Day for Nurses” to be May 6, 1982. By 1990, The American Nursing Association expanded the recognition day to be week-long event.
About the ANA
The American Nurses Association’s (ANA) mission statement is: Nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all. Representing the interests of the United State’s 3.4 million registered nurses, the ANA is their only full-time service organization. The ANA fulfills this mission by cultivating high standards in nursing practices, advocating for the rights of nurses, lobbying Congress for issues that affect nurses and portraying a true and valued image of the nursing profession.
2016 National Nurses Week Theme and Contest
The 2016 #NursesWeek theme is “#CultureofSafety: It Starts with You.” In conjunction with the ANA’s 2016 yearlong campaign “Safety 360 Taking Responsibility Together,” this theme encourages all nurses to consider how they can individually and collectively work toward creating a culture of safety in their workplaces, which means ensuring not only the safety of their patients, but also their own safety. As a fun and effective way to get this message heard, the ANA is holding a #SafeNursesRock National Nurses Week Social Media Contest. To take part in the contest, participants will post pictures, videos and quotes on their Twitter and Instagram timelines, using the hashtag #SafeNursesRock, to show the world how they and their colleagues embody safe practices every day. At the end of National Nurses Week, ten randomly selected winners will be selected. Tweet This
Get Involved
To celebrate National Nurses Week 2016 at your organization, download the Toolkit, a resource provided by the ANA with ideas to recognize and celebrate your nursing staff while promoting their professional skills and abilities.
Webinar: Culturally Congruent Care: Why Diversity Makes a Difference
Hosted by: American Nursing Association
When: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 – 1:00 p.m. EDT
Featured Speaker: Marilyn (Marty) Douglas, PhD, RN, FAAN
Register: For Webinar Only. For Webinar with CNE Credit. Tweet This
