May 12 is celebrated worldwide as International Nurses Day. MedPortal is once again publishing its classic material about the history of this difficult and vital profession, as well as about the people who choose it.
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Florence Nightingale's legacy
The idea of celebrating Nurse's Day was first voiced in 1953, but this holiday began to be celebrated in 1965. In 1974, the International Council of Nurses decided to establish a professional holiday on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, one of the founders of nursing. Together with other nurses, Nightingale worked in field hospitals during the Crimean War, where she was able to implement the principles of sanitation and care for the wounded. As a result, in less than six months, mortality in hospitals decreased from 42 to 2%. Florence later achieved a complete reorganization of the army medical service and created a nursing training system in Great Britain.
In 1912, the Florence Nightingale Medal was established, which is still the most honorable award for nurses. It is awarded to nurses and healthcare volunteers for their bravery and dedication. The first Nightingale medal in the USSR was received by participants of the Great Patriotic War: Guard Lieutenant Colonel of Tank Forces Irina Levchenko and surgical nurse Lydia Savchenko.
Nurses of Nikolai Pirogov
The famous surgeon Nikolai Pirogov made a huge contribution to the creation and popularization of nursing in Russia, and also during the Crimean War. During the defense of Sevastopol in 1854, the besieged city was overflowing with wounded, and the surgeon realized that doctors alone could not cope with this. He created the profession of nurses, which at that time were girls from high society. They voluntarily went to work to care for the sick and worked only for food, clothing and housing.
Later, when foreigners announced Florence Nightingale as the organizer of the world's first nursing service, Pirogov wrote that the “Krestovozdvizhenskaya community of sisters caring for the wounded and sick” was established in October 1854, and in November of the same year it was already at the front. He heard about Miss Nightingale's merits only at the beginning of 1855.
The largest category of medical workers
Today, nurses are specialists who have received primary medical education and carry out the instructions of a doctor or paramedic to care for patients.
In each country, nurses constitute the largest category of health care workers, since in medical practice a large share of medical services is provided exclusively by nursing staff. Finland has the most nurses: 2,162 per 100,000 people, Haiti has the fewest: 5 per 100,000 people.
Nurses are divided according to their work profile. So, there is a chief nurse, a senior nurse, a ward (post) nurse, a procedural nurse, an operating nurse, a district nurse, and a dietary nurse, who is responsible for therapeutic nutrition. There are also nurses who work with doctors of narrow specialties to receive patients.
In Russia, the activities of nurses are regulated not only by legislation, but also by the professional Code of Ethics, which sets out clear moral guidelines for the activities of nurses.
Support and hope of the doctor
The main task of the nurse is to follow the instructions and instructions of the doctor. She measures temperature and blood pressure, makes dressings, gives injections, vaccinations, helps the doctor during surgical operations and medical procedures, gives medications, monitors the condition and well-being. However, she cannot independently conduct examinations, make diagnoses and prescribe treatment. In fact, the nurse is the right hand and chief assistant to the doctor, who takes on the hardest work. Literally heavy – according to American studies, the average nurse lifts about 1,600 kg on duty, including medical equipment and patients.
In some Western European countries, the maximum work shift for a nurse is 10 hours. This time must not be exceeded, since increasing work hours increases the risk of making medical errors and causing harm to the health of patients.
A nurse is also a sister
Given that 80% of medical personnel are women, it is not surprising that there are also much fewer men among paramedical workers. Initially, in a medical school there are 60 women for every 40 men, but in the average Russian hospital a completely different picture is observed: only 6% of the nursing staff are men. Interestingly, the same gender ratio among nursing staff is observed in the USA and Canada.
Officially, the position of “nurse” appeared in Russia not so long ago, and before that, in the work books of nurses there was an entry “nurse”.
Hard and thankless work
Salaries and working conditions of nurses is one of the most pressing problems of modern healthcare. In 2019, Russian clinics experienced a shortage of 25 thousand doctors and about 130 thousand nurses and paramedics. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this problem has only worsened. According to the GorodRabot.ru portal, in 2020, on average in Russia, a nurse was offered a salary of 25,100 rubles per month. At the same time, the average salary in vacancies on the portal is more than 37 thousand rubles.
The lowest salaries for nurses are in Kalmykia and Chechnya – 16,000 rubles. In Crimea, Stavropol Territory and Mari El, the average salary last year was about 17,000, in Adygea – 18,000, Kurgan and Volgograd regions – about 19,000 rubles.
The highest salaries in Moscow – almost 48,000 rubles, in Chukotka – 43,000, in the Magadan region – 41,000.