International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day
Czech nursing students (2006)
Also called	ICN
Observed by	UN Members
Begins	1965
Date	12 May
Next time	12 May 2017 (2017-05-12)
Frequency	annual

International Nurses Day (IND) is an international day celebrated around the world on 12 May (the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth) of each year, to mark the contributions nurses make to society.

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"; 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.

ICN themes for International Nurses Day:

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

In 2007, 5000 nurses gathered in Yichun, East China's Jiangxi Province. Each year nurses in Chinese hospitals recite the Florence Nightingale Pledge.

Since 2012, Nurse Jobs Ireland (an Irish nurse recruitment agency) launch a weeklong 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.

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. This signifies the passing of knowledge from one nurse to another. At St Margaret's Church at East Wellow in Hampshire, where Florence Nightingale is buried, a service is also held on the Sunday after her birthday.