
Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910), British nurse and hospital reformer at Scutari hospital during the Crimean war.
(Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)Once again, it’s time to salute Nurses around the world for International Nurses Day. It’s no coincidence that today also happens to be the birthday of Florence Nightingale.
Florence is known for being a nursing pioneer as the founder of modern nursing. She is also remembered for her bravery while tending to the injured soldiers during the Crimean War in the mid-1800s.
Last week, we began our celebration of nurses for National Nurse Appreciation Week, which concludes today, International Nurses Day, on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday. She was born on this day 205 years ago.
I am well aware of this day and the annual celebration that goes along with it. I have many friends and family members who work in the nursing industry. If you come across a nurse today, a simple thank you is appropriate for the difficult and stressful job they do every day.
My respect and appreciation for nurses is stronger than ever after witnessing what they endured during the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw nurses like my neighbors coming home after working for twelve hours, having to remove their clothes and disinfect them and themselves in their garage before entering the house.
Related: Nurses Week 2025
Last week, we kicked off Nurses Week with the staff and nurses of St. Peter’s University Hospital joining me on the air in the morning to discuss the importance of nurses and International Nurses.
One of the things we learned is that there is currently a nursing shortage, and hospitals are having to recruit from other countries to acquire the nursing staff they need to function.
St. Peter’s has had great success using this hiring process to find great nurses. Chief Nursing Officer Linda Carroll told me that they’ve implemented some different strategies to offset the nursing shortage.
International Nurses Day Recruitment
Linda shared, “We did some recruitment with our internationally educated nurses. We onboarded over the last six months 22 nurses, seven from South Korea and fifteen from the Philippines.”
For more information about nurses, Nurses Week, and International Nurses Day, go to Magic983.com