International Nurses Day 2024 Themes, Quotes, Celebration & History

Celebrating International Nurses Day 2024 amid the Corona Virus pandemic will undoubtedly bring a fresh dimension in the global health sector making the realization of the importance and value of this profession in public health. This year, the event will be observed worldwide on 12th May with a fresh theme “Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care.”.

The Significance of International Nurses Day

People used to think of doctors as being the most contributing and vital force in the healthcare sector. Literally, that is not a wrong conception. But there are some others who contribute more than those of them – they are nurses. They possess enormous knowledge and diverse skills that they put to keep us fit, healthy and nutritious for years.

Nurses help bring new life into the world, care tirelessly for the sick and injured, and sometimes watch the patients they did everything to save pass away despite their best efforts. International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world with due respect and love to give credit to the nurses’ enormous contribution in helping people lead a sound life.

Traditionally, several initiatives are taken to mark the day. They are praised and paid respect by recognizing their efforts by giving gifts, accolades, and public recognition by several public and private representatives around the globe.

This year International Nurses Day 2024 will be observed on 12th May 2024.

International Nurses Day History

Before getting into the next query, let’s learn something that brought the day into our discussion.

Dorothy Sutherland, an officer from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, was the person who first appeared with the conception of marking a day for recognizing nurses’ sacrifices and contributions in the healthcare sector in the year 1953. Later he proposed to celebrate Nurse Day.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower is credited for announcing it to be observed nationwide. By this process, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) came forward to celebrate later in 1965. The council got the first credit to make this event universal.

Quick Review

• Proposed by Dorothy Sutherland in 1953
• Announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Celebrated first by the International Council of Nurses
• In 1974, it is announced as an International event

In January in 1974, this historic decision came. The 12th of May the birthday of Florence Nightingale,the inspiring personality of nursing was finalized to be celebrated as the part of the commemorating her contribution in the realm of medical sector, specifically in nursing.

In this process, the International Council of Nurses introduced and distributed International Nurses Day Kit (literally meaning having instructive and open data materials utilized by the nurses among folk) each year as part of celebrating the event.

International Council of Nurses honors the International Nurses Day every year all around the globe on 12th of May as the birth commemoration of Florence Nightingale.

International Council of Nurses would disperse an IND Kit in 2014 having instructive and open data materials with the topic “Nurses: A Force for Change – An imperative asset for wellbeing”. Nurses are urged at this day to extensively utilize this pack during the time through their individual and gathering exercises.

Florence Nightingale was born on the 12th of May in 1820. ICN set up the day in 1974 to be praised each year to feature the significance of a nursing job in giving the best human services. She turned into an imperative figure of nursing since the Crimean War amid the 1850s.

Nightingale positioned at the Barrack Hospital, Scutari, improved the social insurance administrations and nursing and opened “the Nightingale School of Nursing” at the St. Thomas Hospital, London in 1860.

Special and educational programs are taken while observing the International Nurses Day every year to address bunches of nursing subjects. The theme of celebration is chosen depending on nurses and their working condition, taking care of poor, neediness issues and some more.

It is praised as seven days in length occasion, leveled as National Nurses Week, in numerous nations like Australia, the United States, Canada and so forth.

How to Celebrate International Nurses Day 2024

International Nurses Day is celebrated each year by arranging a flame light cycle in Westminster Abbey, London. A flame light is handed over one nurse to the other. It symbolizes the knowledge which is to taken starting with one nurse to the other) to put it on the High Altar. A major function is similarly held at St. Margaret’s Church, where Florence Nightingale is resting in peace, just after her birthday.

Traditional Celebration

• The event starts at Westminster Abbey, London
• A flame light is given over starting with one to other
• Flame light symbolizes knowledge

In the US and Canada, the week-long program is issued naming National Nursing Week from the sixth of May to the twelfth of May. Assortments of nursing functions are directed amid the entire week’s festivity in Australia. National Nurses Week is the entire week festivity focusing on the social insurance benefits on the global dimension.

It is commended to perceive the commitments and responsibilities of the attendants among normal open. American Nurses Association bolsters and supports the festival of National Nurses Week every single through state and region medical attendants’ affiliations including other medicinal services organizations and establishments.

Read also: National Nurses Week 2024 Themes

Week-long program is designed to celebrate the nurses’ huge job in minding patients. Exercises are held, for example, instructive courses, an assortment of network occasions, discusses, rivalries, exchanges and so forth. Nurses are valued and respected at this day by circulating blessings, blooms, arranging suppers and so forth by the companions, relatives, associates (specialists, managers, and patients).

International Nurses Day Themes

In 1988, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) introduced a unique theme for the first time to uphold the meaning of this noble profession. From then, each year International Nurses Day is celebrated with a distinguished theme worldwide. Each theme signifies their sacrifice, commitment and great contribution they cost for the sake of their profession. Now, presenting all the themes they introduced from 1988 to till now.

• The theme of 1988 was “Safe Motherhood”.
• The theme of 1989 was “School Health”.
• The theme of 1990 was “Nurses and Environment”.
• The theme of 1991 was “Mental Health – Nurses in Action”.
• The theme of 1992 was “Healthy Aging”.
• The theme of 1993 was “Quality, costs and Nursing”.
• The theme of 1994 was “Healthy Families for Healthy Nation”.
• The theme of 1995 was “Women’s Health: Nurses Pave the Way”.
• The theme of 1996 was “Better Health through Nursing Research”.
• The theme of 1997 was “Healthy Young People = A Brighter Future”.
• The theme of 1998 was “Partnership for Community Health”.
• The theme of 1999 was “Celebrating Nursing’s past, claiming the future”.
• The theme of 2000 was “Nurses – Always there for you”.
• The theme of 2001 was “Nurses, Always There for You: United against Violence”.
• The theme of 2002 was “Nurses Always There for You: Caring for Families”.
• The theme of 2003 was “Nurses: Fighting AIDS stigma, working for all”.
• The theme of 2004 was “Nurses: Working with the Poor; Against Poverty”.
• The theme of 2005 was “Nurses for Patients’ Safety: Targeting counterfeit medicines and substandard medication”.
• The theme of 2006 was “Safe staffing saves lives”.
• The theme of 2007 was “Positive practice environments: Quality workplaces = quality patient care”.
• The theme of 2008 was “Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Primary Health Care”.
• The theme of 2009 was “Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Care Innovations”.
• The theme of 2010 was “Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Chronic Care”.
• The theme of 2011 was “Closing the Gap: Increasing Access and Equity”.
• The theme of 2012 was “Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action”.
• The theme of 2013 was “Closing the Gap: Millennium Development Goals”.
• The theme of 2014 was: “Nurses: A Force for Change – A Vital Resource for Health”.
• The theme of 2015 was “Nurses: A Force for Change: Care Effective, Cost-Effective”.
• The theme of 2016 was “Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems’ resilience”.
• The theme of 2017 was: “Nursing: A voice to lead – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”.
• The theme of 2018 is: “Nurses: Inspire, Innovate, Influence”.
• The theme of 2019 is: “Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit”.
• The theme of 2020 is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health”.
• The theme of 2024 is: “Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care”.

International Nurses Day Greetings

People take with different ways to express feelings, love and respect toward nurses. It is now so easier to do, especially in the dominating days of Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms. On this day, many people post Happy Nurse Day 2024 on their social timelines and several inspiring and heart touching quotes involving nurses’ love, sacrifices and great contribution for the sake of humanity are shared via messages. Some people send cards and gifts to the nurses they owe to.

International Nurses Day Quotes

There are plenty of quotes and sayings regarding nurses pertaining their achievements, sacrifice, and contribution in the society. Those quotes are inspiring people to get engaged with this noble profession. Some of those powerful and inspirational quotes are shared for the readers. Here these are.

“If love can’t cure it, nurses can”.

“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring with or without even a prescription”. – Val Saintsbury

“Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital”. – Carrie Lafet

“A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed”. – Henrik Ibsca

“Nurses are the heartbeat of Healthcare”.

“Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe”. – Florence Nightingale

“Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion”. – Florence Nightingale

“Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse”. – Elizabeth Kenny

“I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women… no woman has excited passions among women more than I have”. – Florence Nightingale

“Hospitals are only an intermediate stage of civilization”. – Florence Nightingale

“Some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route”. Elizabeth Kenny

“She said the object and color in the materials around us actually have a physical effect on us, on how we feel”. – Florence Nightingale

FAQs on International Nurses Day

Why International Nurses Day is celebrated on 12th May?

Florence Nightingale who known as the founder of modern nursing signifies the fact of why 12th May is International Nurses Day. She was born in 12 May 1820 in England who sacrificed her life for the sake of serving the injured and ailing people. International Council of Nurses (ICN) mark the day to honor her sacrifice and to inspire people to take nursing as a profession.

Why nurses are called as ‘Sister’?

Earlier, Catholic nuns used to appoint to take care of the patients as nurses. That time, according to the social dogmatism, married women were not allowed to do the caring jobs as they had to maintain kids and household chores. On the contrary, Catholic nuns carried much affection towards poor and needy people.

Wrapping Up

International Nurses Day 2024 is a golden opportunity for giving credits, expressing gratitude and respect you want to show. We express our endless respect and gratitude towards all the nurses for their sacrifices, great contribution, and affection towards sick and destitute people. I must show my feelings, respect, and gratitude on the occasion of International Nurses Day. So, what about you?

Want to add something to it? Put your words right in the comment box below, we’ll consider to add them in the row.

Happy Nurses Day 2024