Nurses Week

Nurses lead the way in showing an elderly patient how to manage his or her diabetes. They lead the way in making sure their patients – children and adults – get the vaccinations they need. They lead the way in helping our young moms learn how to care for their infants. And they lead the way in conducting research to promote high-quality life for those with chronic illnesses, and to help all of us stay healthy across the lifespan.

And nurses, our trusted advisers on health issues, led the way in reaching out to their patients, neighbors, and families to make sure they enrolled in health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Nurses, who are on the frontlines of health care, know firsthand how important coverage can be to their patients: to their health, their peace of mind, and their financial security.

We’re continuing to rely on nurses to help educate patients, some of whom had never had health insurance before, on how to use their newly acquired coverage to get the vital preventive and primary care they need. Nurses are also helping patients use new health information technology tools to manage their own care and ultimately improve their health.

National Nurses Week History                  

By: The American Nurses Association (ANA)

National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday. These permanent dates enhance planning and position National Nurses Week as an established recognition event. As of 1998, May 8 was designated as National Student Nurses Day, to be celebrated annually. And as of 2003, National School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week (May 6-12) each year.

The nursing profession has been supported and promoted by the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. Each of ANA's state and territorial nurses associations promotes the nursing profession at the state and regional levels. Each conducts celebrations on these dates to recognize the contributions that nurses and nursing make to the community. The ANA supports and encourages National Nurses Week recognition programs through the state and district nurses associations, other specialty nursing organizations, educational facilities, and independent health care companies and institutions.