International Nurses Day was established by the International Council of Nurses in 1965 to celebrate the important role nurses play in our society. In 1974, the 12th of May was chosen as the date to celebrate the day as it is the birthday of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale. This year, it was particularly significant as it coincided with the 200th anniversary of her birth, and is in the World Health Organisation’s designated International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Florence Nightingale became well known for caring for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War in the 1850’s. Interestingly, her statistical analysis of the disease rates at the time and her graphical representation of these results, in some ways, was equally important as it enabled her to convince the government of the time to improve the unsanitary conditions in the hospitals there. Disease statistics have unfortunately become a familiar topic recently. She subsequently returned to England and established the first secular Nursing School in the world. Florence sent one of only two international teams of nurses to Sydney in the 1860’s to establish the Nightingale system of Nursing in Australia. She was also heavily involved in health promotion, hospital design and social reform during her life.
The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has issued a special greeting to all nurses on International Nurses Day to praise the leadership, skill, knowledge, compassion and commitment of the nursing profession and to acknowledge the contribution that nurses make to the community.
Chatswood Private Hospital celebrated the occasion with our nursing team and would like to thank all our Nurses for their dedication, care, commitment and for all their hard work and understanding during this difficult time of COVID-19.