May 6th-May 12th 2015

Happy Nurses Week! 

   I am so excited to be able to celebrate my first nurses week as a Registered Nurse. I have been able to experience the last few as a CNA and a nursing student. Although those both count and there is even a specific day during the week to honor nursing students... it really feels great to be able to hold the title RN and celebrate nurses week this year.

For those who may not know here is a small blurb from Wikipedia (I know... not a 100% creditable source.. but they got this information right :) ) about Nurses Week and how it came about:

In the U.S., National Nurses Week was first observed from October 11–16, 1954 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's mission to Crimea. President Nixon later proclaimed a "National Nurse Week" in 1974. In 1982, President Reagan signed a proposal officially designating May 6 as "National Recognition Day for Nurses," now known as National Nurses Day or National RN Recognition Day. In 1990, the American Nurses Association (ANA) expanded the holiday into the current National Nurses Week celebrated from 6 May to 12 May (the birthday of Florence Nightingale). 

   This week my hospital is doing something daily to celebrate which is super nice! After my shift on Sunday night, my director gave me these gifts (pictured below). A really cute travel thermos and a pen that also has a pen light on one end and a stylist on the other. Tuesday morning, there was free breakfast down in the cafeteria.  The rest of the week has fun activities ahead such as an ice cream social, free massages, and one day where your unit gets to pick a restaurant of your choice to order out from (our unit picked Cheddar's)! I'm so thankful to be employed at a place that shows love and appreciation to the staff in such a tremendous way.

   





















On top of it being a week to celebrate nurses, the celebration will continue as it is Matthew John's nursing pinning ceremony on Thursday. He gets to be pinned during nurses week which I think is pretty cool and something he will always remember.  This week is definitely an exciting time full of big transitions for everyone!

   Nursing truly has been such a blessing to me. Throughout this journey of nursing school, striving to pass NCLEX, becoming an RN, and now working as a Medical/Surgical Night Shift Nurse I have learned so much about myself and have grown so much in various areas. Nursing truly is a calling.  

I'm so glad that God called me to be a nurse.