National Nurses Week May 6-12

The work of America’s 3.1 million licensed registered nurses positioned to assume leadership roles in health care and maintain the health of millions of individuals is the focus of this year’s National Nurses Week, celebrated annually May 6-12 throughout the U.S. The American Nurses Association has selected “Nurses Leading the Way” as the theme for 2014.

National Nurses Week begins on May 6, marked as Registered Nurses (RN) Recognition Day, and ends on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of nursing as a modern profession. Several Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Nursing faculty members will celebrate by attending a Nurses Week Breakfast on Tuesday (May 6), and the Texas Nurses Association’s annual Nurses Week Banquet on May 12 at Covenant Medical Center to recognize the District 18 Nurse of the Year.

“All nurses are leaders, whether they are in direct contact with patients, teaching other nurses as faculty or preceptors, serving in administrative roles or meeting consumers’ needs as nurse-home visitors or patient navigators,” said TTUHSC School of Nursing Dean Michael L. Evans, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN. “This week, we acknowledge the immense impact nurses have on today’s health care field and how they are leading the way in improving patient care for residents in Texas and the rest of the country.”

National Nurses Week is devoted to highlighting the diverse ways in which RNs, the largest health care profession, are working to improve health care. From bedside nursing in hospitals and long-term care facilities to the halls of research institutions, state legislatures and the U.S. Congress, the depth and breadth of the nursing profession is meeting the expanding health care needs of American society.

The TTUHSC School of Nursing began in 1979 with the development of the first nationally accredited Continuing Nursing Education Program in Texas. With campuses in Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene, Dallas/Fort Worth and the Permian Basin, the school offers a variety of traditional and online programs. To date, the school has graduated more than 6,060 nurses.