According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 3 million registered nurses (RN) are employed in a variety of capacities in hospital environments . RN’s also work in physician offices, home healthcare services, schools, or serve in the military. Addiction nurses, cardiovascular nurses, perioperative nurses, critical care nurses, genetics nurses, neonatology nurses, public health nurses and rehabilitation nurses are just a sample of the diversity in nursing practice. The nursing profession is embedded in every part of modern life; in schools, health care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, and the military.

The fundamental tenet of compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every patient historically holds true to the modern-day nursing profession. The largest nursing advocacy group in the U.S., the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics includes among others compassion and advocacy for all patients, personal integrity, a focus on an optimized and safe working environment as it pertains to providing quality care, collaboration with other healthcare professionals and responsibility for articulating nursing values and maintaining the integrity of the profession and its practice.

Nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale upheld these modern ethics in her own way as she blazed a path for modern nursing. Self-taught and trained, despite oppressive social norms limiting working women during her time, she gained notoriety managing a cadre of nurses during the Crimean War. Tending to wounded soldiers, the work of Nightingale and her team brought to light nursing as a legitimate and important profession. Her advocacy and work training nurses, establishing the first nursing school, and her important work utilizing statistical data on mortality to inform her practice, further cemented and helped legitimize nursing as a profession.

These pioneering tenants continue to be championed by nurses across the world. Established in 1893, the Nightingale Pledge (a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath) taken at the completion of nursing school, continues to be a cornerstone for nurses. Nightingale’s work opened the doors to many nursing pioneers including Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross whose passion to provide care to all humanity irrespective of race or ethnicity brought awareness and increased attention to disaster relief and humanitarian work.

Other notable nurses include Dorothea Dix who advocated for patients with mental illness and Margaret Sanger who advocated for the rights of women’s health and women’s right to birth control. She also wrote extensively about education and birth control and was instrumental in the establishment of the International Federation of Planned Parenthood. Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first black woman RN who was initially denied entrance into the American Nurses Association, established her own nursing organization serving women of color in the field of nursing.

Other notable women of color in nursing include Susie King Taylor who was the first African-American woman U.S. Army nurse serving in the Civil War. Mabel Staupers fought hard to integrate black nurses into the nursing profession in the U.S., at a time where medical aid was desperately needed during the Great Depression and World War II . Sarah Emma Edmondson lived out her dream to be a nurse dressed as a man in order to practice. She served in the Union Army as Private Franklin Flint Thompson, a male nurse and a spy in the Civil War. She crossed enemy lines as a black man tinting her skin with silver nitrate . Sarah Emma Edmondson a.k.a. Private Frank Thompson was a true hero and champion of nursing.

Other pioneering nurses include Diane Evans a Vietnam War nurse. Diane Carlson Evans fought for the honor of the women who bravely battled side by side with male soldiers in Vietnam War era. It took 7 years of lobbying before Congress, convincing legislators to recognize the immense value of 11,000 military women to Vietnam and the 265,000 others in service during the war. Her efforts led to the dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial in 1993.

Though nursing is largely dominated by women men have made inroads into the profession with its own set of pioneers. Men make up about 6 percent of the 2.9 million RNs working in the U.S. Male nursing’s most famous pioneer Walt Whitman, the acclaimed poet, served as a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War and in crowded hospital wards in Washington.

Aspiring nursing student Joe Hogan made history when he sued the Mississippi University for Women for denying Hogan admission because of his gender. Hogan was already a registered nurse who was working full time at Golden Triangle Regional Hospital in Columbus, Mississippi, but wanted to earn his bachelor's degree in nursing from the all-women's institution because it was the only local college offering this degree. Joe Hogan won his landmark case, and it forever banned gender discrimination at publicly funded schools for nursing.

Modern day nursing pioneers that exemplify the championing spirit of their predecessors include Karen Daley who led the battle that led to the passage of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000. A veteran nurse, Daley acquired both Hepatitis C and HIV via a needlestick during her practice in an emergency room setting. Nurses Lisa Black and Lynda Arnold who both acquired HIV and Hepatitis C via needlesticks were part of this cadre of nurses who through their experiences were motivated to create change.

Other notable nurses within needlestick safety and prevention and pivotal in the passage of the landmark legislation include Mary Foley who was a nurse during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 80’s early 90’s.

These nursing leaders represented all healthcare workers, not just nurses who had been harmed by sharps injury. The landmark legislation calls for enhanced engineering to create safer conditions for nurses requiring employers to identify, evaluate, and implement safer devices. The Act also mandated additional requirements for maintaining a sharps injury log and for the involvement of non-managerial healthcare workers in evaluating and choosing devices.

Sponsored by the American Nurses Association, this vital profession is acknowledged through National Nurses Week from May 6th-May 12th by the American Nurses Association. Additionally, and in parallel National Hospital Week takes place during the same week.

Related:

National Critical Care Awareness Recognition Month, May 2018

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week May 6-12, 2018