Happy National Nurses Month from TAGNOS!
Have you #ThankaNurse? You need to.
It’s time to take a step back and recognize the great contributions nurses provide for the betterment and health of society. There are 4 million registered nurses in America alone who give us reason to celebrate not just this week from May 6, ending on May 12th – Florence Nightingale‘s birthday, the founder of modern nursing, but for the whole month of May.
You see, for 2020, National Nurses Week has become National Nurses Month.
Nursing & COVID-19
As the ANA states about National Nurses Month,
“Honoring our nation’s nurse heroes is more profoundly significant than the American Nurses Association (ANA) anticipated when we extended the traditional National Nurses Week to a month of recognition in May. The global COVID-19 pandemic quickly shifted the focus from the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, but now more than ever we must support and recognize nurses who work with courage and compassion and under extremely challenging circumstances.
Whether it is a national health emergency or routine daily care, nurses’ vital contributions impact the health and well-being of our communities, which is why ANA selected the theme for May as Nurses Make a Difference. To honor nurses and support the nursing profession, ANA will promote weekly themes and activities. While continued physical distancing may limit our face-to-face activities, we encourage everyone to think of creative ways to virtually engage.”
The four themes include:
- Self-Care
- Recognition
- Professional Development
- Community Engagement
>> See 8 Hospital Preparedness Lessons from Past Pandemics
Nurses: Focused on Preventative Medicine, Wellness and Illness Care
Nurses are constantly pushing the boundaries of healthcare status quos – they are agents of change, supporters and politicians – in addition to being empathetic care givers.
Nurses Are Agents of Change
Nurses are leaders of transforming healthcare to focus on preventative medicine, wellness and illness care. Furthermore, they are researchers, executives, educators and innovators on national, as well as global initiatives.
Nurses Support Superior Care and Inclusion
They are advocates for delivering culturally superior care and ensuring that healthcare is diverse, and inclusive to all who want to practice and receive care. No surprise, nurses are strong, resilient and determined. That same determination helps them navigate through the daily chaos to figure out how to deliver excellent care despite an ever-changing and challenging health care environment.
Nurses Are Political Leaders
Nurses are also political leaders who influence and shape the policy decisions that ensure all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare coverage.
What can’t they do?!
4 Million Registered Nurses: 4 Million Reasons to Celebrate
Taking the lead in this celebration is the American Nurses Association (ANA) which highlights the following critical messages about nurses:
- Nurses are everywhere -they live, work, play, learn, and worship in every healthcare setting, providing care to millions of people.
- Did you know that about 1 in every 100 Americans is a registered nurse?
- Nurses are closest to patients, providing care from birth to the end of life, and practicing in settings that include hospitals, schools, home care, private practices and clinics, long term care facilities, hospice and many others.
- Nurses are on the front lines fighting COVID-19 and doing everything possible to ensure patients recover.
- Through sheer numbers and wide-ranging roles, nurses have an unmatched perspective on prevention, wellness and delivery of health care services.
- More than 4 million registered nurses comprise the largest group of health care professionals in the United States.
- Nurses are highly educated professionals, can become certified in a wide range of clinical specialties and/or patient populations and hold a wide range of positions including in direct care, in executive leadership, research, academia and policy.
- For 17 consecutive years, the American public has ranked nurses the professionals with the highest honesty and ethical standards. These results underscore the deep trust that the public has in nurses.
>> Here’s the National Nurses 2019 Week Reference (pdf).
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing Fact Sheet provides additional nursing milestones. Did you know this important fact about nursing?
“With more than three times as many RNs in the United States as physicians, nursing delivers an extended array of healthcare services, including primary and preventive care by nurse practitioners with specialized education in such areas as pediatrics, family health, women’s health, and gerontological care. Nursing’s scope also includes services by certified nurse-midwives and nurse anesthetists, as well as care in cardiac, oncology, neonatal, neurological, and obstetric/gynecological nursing and other advanced clinical specialties.”
How Will You Celebrate National Nurses Month?
Take the time to thank the nurses you know and celebrate them for all that they do to make our world better. As the ANA reminds us, they are committed to:
- Addressing many public health challenges to transform health care to focus on health and wellness, in addition to illness care.
- Delivering culturally competent care and increasing diversity and inclusion in nursing.
- Doing ground-breaking work as researchers, executives, educators and innovators on national and global initiatives.
- Shaping health policy decisions that ensure all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage.
- Being a trusted advocate to ensure that individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations receive quality patient care and services.
- Having a strong voice on important issues like immunization, health behaviors, natural disaster preparedness, education, and violence prevention.
- Leading nurses’ organizations, on boards of directors and as elected officials at the local, state and federal levels.
- Continuing strong, resilient and determined despite an ever-changing and complex health care landscape.
Please support and recognize nurses. They deserve our thanks and deep appreciation.
Putting Nurses First – Actionable Data to Improve Healthcare Delivery
Back in 2019, TAGNOS attended AONE in San Diego, CA, a show dedicated to inspiring nurse leaders. Given our company mission to help ease nurse workloads, the team led an educational session focused on emerging technologies to ease workloads, deliver quality & improve patient satisfaction.
The session focused on tools that help support nurses in the delivery of care, which included how data can be an ally in supporting care delivery teams, optimizing staffing levels, assisting in room turnover, support key quality indicators and improve patient satisfaction. If you missed it, please consider downloading it here (or click the button below).
Thank You to Nurses Everywhere!
Thank you to nurses everywhere – you are the greatest advocate of patients and provide invaluable emotional support to those in need. Furthermore, they are crucial essential workers who are critical to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. #NursesMonth #ThankaNurse
About TAGNOS
TAGNOS is the future of clinical automation software solutions with Artificial Intelligence. It is the only platform offering predictive analytics utilizing machine learning and RTLS. This groundbreaking platform leverages historical patient data continuously and adjusts operational intelligence to provide sustainable improvement to both the patient experience and metrics.
TAGNOS provides clinical systems integration, customizable reporting, dashboards, alerts, critical communication with staff and family to improve turnaround times. TAGNOS supports patient flow, workflow orchestration, and asset management.
In the course of 13 months, hospitals see a 12.7% reduction in its overall cycle time – saving an average of 40 minutes from each case and over $1.6M per year – more than 11x the typical investment.
Note: We originally published this article on 05/06/2019 and have updated it.