In 1974, The International Council of
Nurses chose
May 12 as the date to celebrate International Nurses Day each year 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
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| US President Donald Trump signs a proclamation in honor of National Nurses Day in May 2020 |
Before the foundation of modern nursing, members of religious orders such as nuns and monks often provided nursing-like care. The religious roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today in many countries. One example in the United Kingdom is the use of the honorific "sister" to refer to a senior nurse.
For several centuries in Europe, nursing was regarded as a menial occupation fit only for the lower-classes, because of the unpleasant and disgusting aspects of the work. On October 13, 1836 Theodor Fliedner, the Lutheran pastor of Kaiserswerth near Düsseldorf, established the Deaconess Institute. The scheme led respectable ladies into nursing and produced the world's first trained nurses.
Florence Nightingale laid the foundations of professional nursing during the Crimean War and afterwards with her 1859 publication
Notes on Nursing.In 1860 Florence Nightingale set up the first school of nursing connected to a general hospital. The Nightingale Nursing School was founded at St Thomas's Hospital, London and used the founder's
Notes On Nursing was the cornerstone of its curriculum.
