It's Nurses Week Every Week

We nurses are the backbone, the lifeblood, and the connective tissue of healthcare around the world. We serve in myriad capacities, and it's our clinical skill, compassion, and broad scope of knowledge that make us such an intrinsic part of the fabric of society. Sure, we may be the heart of healthcare, but we're a good portion of the brains, as well.

Nurses play many roles: counselor, comforter, researcher, primary care provider, advocate, task-based clinician, writer, business owner, consultant, and more. The many roles we can play underscores the fact of our flexibility, and the ways in which we can contribute on so many levels within a countless array of milieus.

You may find a nurse in government (there are several members of Congress who are nurses), and you may also find nurses in the boardroom. We are CEOs and CNOs, and some of us pivot between various roles in the course of a career, or in the course of a single day.

My friends, nurses are legion, and there's no limit to the potential of what nurses can do, and how the nursing profession can evolve over the decades to come.

Nurses Week and Nurses Day are a nice way to acknowledge who we are and why we're important members of society. Having said that, in my world, every day is Nurses Day and every week is Nurses Week. We don't need to receive tote bags and flowers every day; we just need to feel that what we do matters, and that we are contributing to our communities in ways that light us up and embolden us to do even more.

Happy Nurses Week this week; you deserve the recognition and praise. And just remember, next week is Nurses Week, too.