International Nurses Day: national and international perspectives.

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

© 2 01 5 M A H ea lth ca re L td On May 12 each year, nurses around the world commemorate Florence Nightingale’s birthday by celebrating International Nurses Day (IND). Nurses are the largest group of health professionals globally and indeed sometimes the only healthcare worker available to large populations in poorer, developing countries (International Council of Nurses (ICN), 2015). As such they significantly impact on healthcare worldwide. IND provides an opportunity for the global community of nurses to reflect on the influence of nursing, share expertise and inform future development to improve health outcomes at an international level. IND is an initiative that has been led by the ICN since 1965. The ICN is a federation of national nursing associations from across the world, representing over 130 countries. Somewhat controversially the UK is no longer represented since the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) opted to withdraw in 2013, mainly because of rising membership costs (Salvage et al, 2013). Jane Salvage and other very eminent UK nurse leaders argued vehemently against this action, given that the ICN represents millions of nurses and therefore is uniquely placed to discuss global healthcare issues and related nursing trends. While at the time there was limited opposition to withdrawal from RCN members, Salvage et al (2013) argued that this was in large part because of ignorance about the role of the ICN. Most health problems, for example, do not respect frontiers; Salvage et al (2013) contended therefore that such issues could only be effectively addressed by working collectively with our international colleagues. Despite the irony that the birthplace of Florence Nightingale is no longer represented at the ICN, this does not prevent UK nurses from celebrating IND. Indeed, following recent criticisms of health care and nursing in particular, in contrast IND has provided an opportunity to showcase excellence in nursing practice across the UK (NHS Careers, 2013). Notwithstanding the RCN withdrawal from the ICN, the organisation has remained in the forefront of the UK celebrations on its webpages (RCN, 2015) where it captures inspirational Janet Scammell