1. 2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife
The World Health Organization designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, marking the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. The designation came after sustained lobbying by the Nursing Now movement and the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and it pushed national attention toward what nurses do and the staffing and policy issues threatening the profession's future.
2. The Nursing Now Campaign
Nursing Now was a three-year global campaign launched in 2018 to improve perceptions of nurses, strengthen their influence, and expand their contribution to healthcare access. The UK Burdett Trust for Nursing ran it alongside the ICN and WHO, with backing from public figures and policymakers. It worked through local groups: more than 200 of them across over 80 countries, each driving change in its own setting.
3. Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation
The American Nurses Association launched Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation to get registered nurses to improve their own health across five areas: physical activity, nutrition, rest, quality of life, and safety. The premise is blunt. Nurses are less healthy than the average American, more likely to be overweight, more stressed, and getting less sleep. As the largest and most trusted health profession, nurses set the example their patients follow, so their own health is not a side issue.
4. The Senator Walsh outcry
When Washington State Senator Maureen Walsh said nurses in smaller hospitals probably spend much of the day playing cards, the response was immediate and national. A petition started by registered nurse Juliana Bindas gathered roughly 830,000 signatures in about two weeks. The practical result: the bill on nurses' shifts and breaks passed without the Senate's proposed amendments.
5. Show Me Your Stethoscope
Show Me Your Stethoscope (SMYS) started after nurses were mocked publicly for wearing "doctor's stethoscopes" and grew into an online movement of roughly 650,000 members. It is run by nurses on the premise that the collective weight of millions of nurses can force change. SMYS has held rallies, funded scholarships, and supported nurses in need, including RaDonda Vaught, who was criminally charged with reckless homicide after a fatal medication error.
6. Nurse Florence Smith
When salary and staffing talks stalled in New Zealand, two nurses launched a Facebook page under the pseudonym Florence Smith with the hashtag #HearOurVoices. It spread until thousands of nurses joined countrywide marches on Nurses' Day. In July of that year, New Zealand nurses went on strike for the first time in 30 years. Further strikes were averted by an improved pay offer and a commitment to address staffing.
7. New York State Nurses Association
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) reached a tentative agreement with several New York hospital systems after filing an intent to strike. The deal set staffing ratios, funded the hiring of 1,500 new nurses, and committed an additional $100 million to bring on more.
8. ANG NARS Partylist
ANG NARS Partylist is a movement in the Philippines that represents nurses in the legislature. It has pushed for higher pay, better working conditions, and a stronger nursing law for Filipino nurses.
9. Men into Nursing Together
Men into Nursing Together (MINT), started at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK by nursing students and lecturers, works to recruit more men into the profession, using social media to carry its message.
10. Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called on the public and on nurses to back its push to address hospital staffing shortages. Its argument is that low pay plus chronic shortages drives nurses to leave the profession or emigrate.
Use your voice
You make a difference with your knowledge and skills, and you could do more if shortages, nurse-patient ratios, and the rest were resolved. There are nearly 28 million nurses worldwide, about 59% of the global health workforce, according to the WHO State of the World's Nursing 2020 report. That is real leverage. Join nursing and community organizations, take committee roles at work and on policy bodies, and build your leadership and negotiation skills. The numbers only matter if nurses use them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was 2020 named the Year of the Nurse and Midwife? The World Health Organization made the designation to mark the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth and to push staffing and policy issues into national view, after sustained lobbying by the Nursing Now movement and the International Council of Nurses.
What was the Nursing Now campaign? Nursing Now was a three-year global campaign launched in 2018 by the UK Burdett Trust for Nursing alongside the ICN and WHO. It worked through more than 200 local groups across over 80 countries to raise the profile and influence of nurses.
What is Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation? It is an American Nurses Association program that encourages registered nurses to improve their own health across physical activity, nutrition, rest, quality of life, and safety, on the premise that nurses set an example their patients follow.
How many nurses are there worldwide? About 27.9 million, roughly 59% of the global health workforce, per the WHO State of the World's Nursing 2020 report. That same report flagged a global shortage of nearly 6 million nurses, concentrated in lower-income countries.
What did the Woodhull Study Revisited find? It found that nurses are still rarely quoted or covered in health news media, two decades after the original Woodhull Study reached the same conclusion. The finding is part of why nurses have turned to organizing and social media to be heard.
How can one nurse get involved in advocacy? Join nursing and community organizations, take committee roles at work and on policy bodies, and build leadership and negotiation skills. Collective numbers only create change when individual nurses use them.