Since this time last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every part of our lives and our communities. Arguably, no single profession has been more impacted than nursing and National Nurses Week, May 6-12 is the ideal time to recognize the contributions nurses have made and continue to make. Nursing has often been referred to as a calling, rather than a job and that is very true today.
From nursing homes to hospitals, clinics to schools, nurses across the country have risen to the call, donned personal protective equipment, and provided care and comfort to patients who, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, have found themselves alone, without family or friends for support. In the South Florida area, like the rest of the country, nurses have gone far above and beyond to provide loving comfort to patients who are lonely and scared.
In 1974 President Nixon issued a proclamation designating National Nurses Week to be May 6-12, ending on Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. While caring for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, she observed more soldiers were dying from illness caused by unsanitary conditions than their battle wounds. Her implementation of improved hygiene practices and better nutrition is credited with saving thousands of lives. Nightingale’s set an example of compassion, commitment to patient care and diligent and thoughtful hospital administration that impacts the profession still. Today, new nurses recite the Nightingale pledge or a variation during their formal pinning ceremony at the conclusion of their training.
I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.
Fortis College in Cutler Bay offers both an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program and a Practical Nursing (PN) course of study. In both programs, nursing theory guides clinical practice. For those who wish to pursue training to become registered nurses, the comprehensive curriculum of the ADN program provides the knowledge and hands-on clinical skills to prepare students to sit for the NCLEX licensure exam and, after successfully passing the licensing exam, pursue careers as entry-level registered nurses.
The Practical Nursing curriculum at Fortis provides the theory, laboratory and clinical experiences to prepare students to sit for the NCLEX practical nursing licensure exam and pursue an entry-level position in Practical Nursing. The clinical portion of the PN nursing curriculum includes hands-on experience providing nursing care to diverse patient populations in hospitals and other health care agencies. In addition, the clinical portion of the PN program will enable the student to observe first-hand the behaviors that are crucial to employability.
