2012 National Nurses Week and
Nurse Appreciation Day
National Nurses Week pays tribute to the thousands of nurses in the United States every year from May 6 through May 12. This year, Nurse-Family Partnership once again honors the hard work, sacrifice and courage of
NFP Nurse Home Visitors and NFP Nurse Supervisors.
National Nurses Week begins on May 6 with National Nurses Day. Established in 1997 by the American Nurses Association, May 8 is designated as National Student Nurses Day. National Nurses Week concludes on May 12 with the celebration of International Nurses Day and the birthday of Florence Nightingale. Nightingale (1820-1910) was an English nurse who is considered the founder of modern nursing and helped establish The Nightingale School for Nurses in 1860, the first secular nursing school in the world. The legacy of Florence Nightingale lives on through the
Nightingale Pledge — the pledge all new nurses must make before being admitted into the nursing profession.
Efforts to establish a National Nurses Week and Nurse Appreciation Day date back as early as the 1950s, when several resolutions and requests for formal recognition were presented to the U.S. government, but were unsuccessful. In 1974, President Richard Nixon proclaimed a National Nurses Week and in 1991, May 6-12 was formally recognized as National Nurses Week by the American Nurses Association. Visit the American Nurses Association's website for a more
comprehensive timeline of National Nurses Week throughout history.