science

International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand International Nurses Day rather than just read about it. In short: International Nurses Day (IND) is an international day observed around the world on 12 May (the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth) each year, to mark the contributions that nurses make to society. Background The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated this day since 1965.

Key takeaways

International Nurses Day belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect International Nurses Day to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of International Nurses Day from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Background The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated this day since 1965. In 1953 Dorothy Sutherland, an official with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, proposed that President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaim a "Nurses' Day"; but he did not approve it. In January 1974, 12 May was chosen to celebrate the day as it is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Each year, ICN prepares and distributes the International Nurses' Day Kit. The kit contains educational and public information materials, for use by nurses everywhere. As of 1998, 8 May was designated as annual National Student Nurses' Day in the US.

Themes The themes for International Nurses Day have been:

National activities

Australia The Australian Nurse of the Year is announced at a ceremony at one of the state capital cities. Additionally, in each of the Australian states and territories, various nursing award ceremonies are conducted during the week.

China In 2007, 5000 nurses gathered in Yichun, East China's Jiangxi Province.

Ireland Since 2012, Nurse Jobs Ireland (an Irish nurse recruitment agency) launch a week long pro-bono campaign to celebrate nurses on the 6–12 May every year. This week long celebration uses digital platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to promote the great work nurses do using the hashtag #CelebrateNurses. The public leave their positive comments and thanks on the Celebrate Nurses website where they are collated into an ebook which is shared in medical facilities throughout Ireland.

Singapore Singapore celebrates Nurses Day on 1 August. Back in the 1800s, a thriving Singapore found itself in need of providing better healthcare and medical services to a growing population. While there were several hospitals, there was a lack of nurses to support the doctors. French nuns from the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus were trained to become nurses to fulfil this need, as they were seen as the only educated European women in Singapore who could undertake this challenge. 1 August 1885 marks the beginning of the development of nursing in Singapore when these nuns began their nursing duties in the General Hospital at the Sepoy Lines in the Outram area.

Taiwan In 2003, after the outbreak of highly contagious SARS, President Chen Shui-bian visited a hospital on International Nurses Day to express admiration for 3 nurses who died of SARS, among other medical personnel fighting on the frontline. He conveyed wishes to nurses for their devotion to duty of caring and reminded hospital staff that they should adopt strict precautionary measures to protect themselves before contacting with patients.

Thailand Starting in 1990, Thailand observes 21 October as National Nurses' Day วันพยาบาลแห่งชาติ (Wan Phayaban Haeng Chat). The date commemorates the birth of Srinagarindra the Princess Mother and was adopted 4 April 1990.

United Kingdom Each year a service is held in Westminster Abbey in London. During the service, a symbolic lamp is taken from The Nurses' Chapel in the Abbey and handed from one nurse to another, thence to the Dean, who places it on the High Altar.

United States and Canada (National Nursing Week) The U.S. celebrates National Nursing Week each year from 6 May to 12 May (the birthday of Florence Nightingale). Canada celebrates National Nursing Week each year during the week that includes 12 May. The Canadian Minister of Health instituted National Nursing Week in Canada in 1985.

Vietnam Since 1990s, Nurses have recognized the international nurse day. Officially, Viet Duc University Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam, The Board of Director approved anniversary of international nurse day on May 12, 2015. Since 2018 Department of Health issues, the first announcement encourages all health care hospital and facility host event or meeting for the international nurse day all over of Vietnam.

Iran After the Iranian revolution, the birthday of Zaynab bint Ali was designated as Nurses' Day.

See also Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale Medal National Student Nurses Day The New York Times

References

External links International Nurses Day Archived 12 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine IND International Council of Nurses at ICN

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with International Nurses Day

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what International Nurses Day claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to International Nurses Day before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about International Nurses Day ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of International Nurses Day

In research: International Nurses Day appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses International Nurses Day in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: International Nurses Day is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Health awareness days, May observances, Nursing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for International Nurses Day outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study International Nurses Day in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what International Nurses Day means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain International Nurses Day out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is International Nurses Day in simple terms?

International Nurses Day (IND) is an international day observed around the world on 12 May (the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth) each year, to mark the contributions that nurses make to society. Background The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated this day since 1965.

Why does International Nurses Day matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study International Nurses Day?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on International Nurses Day.