May 6th through 12th is National Nurses Week. May 12th is Florence Nightingale’s birthday, and also International Nurses Day, so this is a culminating celebration.
People have been working toward a recognition week for nurses since the 1950s, but National Nurses Week was only officially recognized in 1990, eight years after President Reagan proclaimed May 6th National Nurses Recognition Day.
5 Fascinating Facts
In honor of National Nurses Week, here are 5 things you might not know about nurses.
- International research organization Gallup asks Americans to rate a range of professions on their ethics and honesty. For the past 18 years, nurses have been rated at the top. Americans think nurses are more ethical in their behavior than clergy, teachers, and members of Congress.
- There are more than 3 million nurses in the United States. That’s roughly the same as the population of Arkansas.
- The American Nurses Association started as the Nurses Associated Alumnae in 1898, 25 years after the first nursing degree was awarded in the United States.
- The average nurse walks 4-5 miles a day at work. This is almost double the distance traveled by the average American worker.
- There are about four times as many registered nurses as there are physicians.
Another surprise
May 12th is International Nurses Day, May 6-12 in National Nurses Week, and the entire month of May is Nurses Month.
MANA always appreciates our nurses. We hope you’ll help us celebrate our nurses especially this week and month.
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