International Nurses Day is celebrated annually on May 12th to commemorate Florence Nightingale's birthday and honor nurses' contributions to healthcare. It was first established in 1953 in the US and adopted globally by the International Council of Nurses in 1965. Nurses play a vital role in caring for patients' physical, mental, and social health needs. Nursing associations aim to support nurses and strengthen healthcare systems so nurses can better serve their communities. The 2019 theme is "Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Health for All," emphasizing nurses' ability to advocate for accessible, high-quality care for all people worldwide.

1. International Nurses Day: 12th
May 2019
Prof. Dr. Ram Sharan Mehta
Head, Medical-Surgical Nursing Department
Former President: NAN Unit BPKIHS
International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated every year all around the world on 12th
of May to commemorate the birth
anniversary of the Florence Nightingale and to mark the nurses’ contributions towards people’s health. International
Nurses Day 2019 will be celebrated by the nurses all across the world on 12th
of May, at Sunday. Nurses Day was first
proposed by the Dorothy Sutherland (an officer from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare) in the year
1953 and first proclaimed by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And it was first celebrated by the International Council
of Nurses (ICN) in the year 1965.
In the month of January in 1974, the 12th
of May was declared to be celebrated as the birthday anniversary of the founder
of modern nursing, the Florence Nightingale. International Nurses Day Kit (having educational and public information
materials to be used by the nurses among public) is prepared and distributed every year by the International Council of
Nurses while celebrating the nurses’ day. Florence Nightingale (the foundational philosopher of the modern nursing)
became an important figure of the nursing since Crimean War during 1850s. She, stationed at the Barrack Hospital,
Scutari, reformed the health care services and nursing and opened “the Nightingale School of Nursing” at the St. Thomas
Hospital, London in 1860.
Promotional and educational activities are organized while celebrating the International Nurses Day annually to address
lots of nursing issues. The theme of celebration is selected based on nurses and environment, handling poor, poverty
issues and many more. It is celebrated as a week long event, referred as National Nurses Week, in many countries like
Australia, United States, Canada and etc.
Whole week celebration is planned to commemorate the nurses’ significant role in caring patients. Activities are held such
as educational seminars, variety of community events, debates, competitions, discussions and etc. Nurses are appreciated
and honored at this day by distributing gifts, flowers, organizing dinners and etc by the friends, family members,
coworkers (doctors, administrators, and patients).
Nurses are well trained and educated for maintaining the health and wellness of the patients through all the aspects like
psychosocially, socially and etc. Nurses have deep practical knowledge of delivering best health care services. National
nurses associations (NNAs) play an important role in making nurses well informed, advised, encouraged and supported to
deliver better work. NNAs works with the governments and non-government organizations to strengthen the health care
systems as well as create conditions maximizing the nurses’ contribution.
International Council of Nurses celebrates this event aiming to increase the public awareness about the nursing and nurses
contribution towards the health care innovation. Nurses are the fast and first point of contacting for health services. Nurses
are innovatively practiced to provide free health checkup to the industries indicating their willingness of improving the
health of staffs, to meet all the local needs, to improve the physical, mental and well-being of the patients and etc.
Some of the theme of the International Nurses Day celebration from 1988 are: Safe Motherhood, School Health, Nurses
and Environment, Mental Health – Nurses in Action, Healthy Aging, Quality Costs and Nursing, Healthy Families for
Healthy Nation, Women’s Health: Nurses Pave the Way, Better Health through Nursing Research, Healthy Young People
= A Brighter Future, Partnership for Community Health, Celebrating Nursing’s past, claiming the future, Nurses – Always
there for you, United against Violence, Caring for Families, Nurses: Fighting AIDS stigma, working for all, Nurses:
Working with the Poor; Against Poverty, Nurses for Patients’ Safety: Targeting counterfeit medicines and substandard
medication, Safe staffing saves lives, Positive practice environments: Quality workplaces = quality patient care,
Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Primary Health Care, Closing the Gap: Increasing Access and
Equity, Millennium Development Goals, Nurses: A Force for Change–A Vital Resource for Health, Care Effective, Cost
Effective, Improving health systems’ resilience, Nursing: A voice to lead – Achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals, Nurses: Inspire, Innovate, Influence and the theme for 2019 is, “ Nurses: A Voice to lead-Health for All”.
Health for all means that health is brought into reach of everyone in a given country. Health in this context means not just
the availability of health services, but a complete state of physical and mental health that enables a person to lead a
socially and economically productive life.

2. In world 44400 people a day are forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution; there are 244 million total
numbers of migrants worldwide, 175.5 million Number of migrants have moved voluntarily, 68.5 million Migrants
forcibly displaced due to risk of persecution, violent conflict, food insecurity or human rights violations. 90% of current
war casualties are civilians. 68.5 million People have been forcibly displaced. One in 3 Syrian refugees suffers from
depression, anxiety and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Over 40% In the Kutupalong settlement in
Bangladesh, over 40% of children are stunted. 1.1 billion People with any mental disorder or substance use disorder; 275
million People suffering from anxiety disorder. In 23 countries due to conflict there have been attacks on health workers
and 8-38% of health workers suffer physical violence.
As the largest health profession across the world, working in all areas where health care is provided, nursing has vast
potential and value if appropriately harnessed to finally achieve the vision of Health for All.
Nursing association of Nepal (NAN) is the national nursing association which leads to celebrate the IND in Nepal. In
Nepal till 29th
March as per NNC there is 87748 Nurses’ (i.e. 55009 Nurse + 31897 ANMs + 842 Foreign Nurses) trained
from existing 196 nursing colleges (i.e. 123 PCL + 45 BN/BNS +51 BSN + 11 MN/MSN). Most of the nursing colleges
(about 77) are in province 3 and only 3 colleges are in province 6 and 11 in province 7, which is mal-distribution, needs to
correct as per population distribution of the states.
College of Nursing, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) is one of the Pioneer nursing college of Nepal,
where first time B.Sc. Nursing Programme was started. About 600 nurses’ are working in BPKIHS in different positions.
It is high time to think about decentralization of the power and activities of Nursing Association of Nepal (NAN) and
Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) so that equal development in nursing and health care will be possible in all the provinces
and regions. Quality Education, Quality Service, Proper Monitoring and Supervision, Standard Setting and proper
Evaluation are the urgent demand of the nursing profession. Nursing Leaders, Nursing Educators and Nurse Researcher
can play role in these issues.
Nurses are essential in transforming health care and health systems such that no person is left behind, without access to
care or impoverished because of their need for health care. As one of the most trusted and respected health professions,
nursing has a pivotal role to addressing the multiple health challenges that are being faced all over the world. Nurses are
the engine room of the health system and are required to respond to the health needs of individuals, communities and the
world.
Nursing needs to achieve autonomy in controlling and maintaining the integrity of its professional education and united
membership has to be recognized. The importance of the knowledge of nursing and contributions to health care will have
to be recognized and esteemed to a greater extent by the public as well as by the government if autonomy and control over
nursing practice is to be achieved. New nurses have to understand how nursing trends and issues synthesize the technical,
ethical and organizational issues in the ever evolving health care arena of nursing. Becoming a voice to lead means talking
to governments, community leaders, policy makers and investors.
Effective clinical leadership has been linked to a wide range of functions. It is a requirement of hospital care, including
system performance, achievement of health reform objectives, timely care delivery, system integrity and efficiency, and is
an integral component of the health care system. Their role involves policy setting and overseeing quality measures;
dealing with regulatory compliance, certainly taking on fiscal responsibilities and more. They have responsibility and
accountability for the overall quality of patient care delivery, patient and staff satisfaction, and organizational outcomes.
Strong leadership is critical if the vision of a transformed health care system is to be realized. Yet not all nurses begin
their career with thoughts of becoming a leader. The nursing profession must produce leaders throughout the health care
system, from the bedside to the boardroom, who can serve as full partners with other health professionals and be
accountable for their own contributions to delivering high-quality care while working collaboratively with leaders from
other health professions.
“WISH YOU ALL HAPPY NURSES’ DAY 2019”
Contact address: College of Nursing, BP Koirala Institute of Health Science, Dharan. Email: ramsharanmehta@hotmail.com