Cheers to May 12th!

Today, May 12th, is recognized as Nursing Informatics Day by the American Nurses Association (ANA). Consider how special it is that Informatics Nursing gets a day of recognition during nurses week. For a specialty that was officially recognized in 1992, informatics continually makes an impact across the profession and beyond. Nursing Informatics Day was officially recognized in 2008, 16 years ago.

May 12th is also recognized as International Nurses Day recognized by the International Council of Nurses. May 12th marks the last day of National Nurses Week. The significance of the day is that it is Florence Nightingale's date of birth. 

Florence Nightingale was a visionary of nursing in many ways, including the specialty practice of informatics. 

Over the last week, I had several conversations about nursing, informatics, the future, the past, and how to integrate it all together in a meaningful way. This can seem overwhelming at times. 

However, it is...

Today is May 6th and it marks the start of another year of National Nurses Week in the United States!

As I thought about Nurses Week, I wondered, what is the history of this week for our profession? 

As a nurse of now 24 years, I have always had National Nurses Week. However, it was not long before that where there was not such a celebratory week recognizing the efforts and talents of the nurses across the country. 

According to the American Nurses Association's history of Nurses Week, it was in 1993 when the ANA Board of Directors designated May 6th - May 12th as National Nurses Week for 1994 and beyond! 

Thus, 2024 would mark 30 years of continued celebrations. 

As nurses who have an interest, curiosity, or are currently working in health information technology and/or informatics, you may also be interested to know that the first board certification exam for informatics nursing was offered right around that time in 1995 (and recognized as a specialty practice...