May 5, 2009

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing. The purpose of this celebration is to give thanks, recognition, and acknowledgement to nurses and to remind the public of nursing’s contribution to the health and well being of our community and our nation. This year’s theme, “Nurses, Building a Healthy America,” reflects the commitment nurses make every day.

Nursing is a profession which is often described as both an art and a science. Nursing embraces dedicated people who have a wide variety of interests, strengths and passions, and the industry provides a vast array of possibilities for new nurses.

Nurses work in many work areas, including hospitals, school-based health centers, homeless shelters, physician practices, emergency department, nursing facilities, and many other venues. They have many roles: caregivers, researchers, educators, etc. Regardless of the function, nurses do their best to serve their communities with a strong commitment to patient safety.

This year, PVH’s nursing staff is focused on several key issues, including pain management, falls prevention, noise reduction to enhance healing, and improving patient satisfaction. Several new brochures are helping promote these efforts and keep our patients informed of how the hospital can best serve them.

PVH offers a wide variety of programs and services in addition to emergency and inpatient care including babysitting courses, CPR and First Aid training, and childbirth education. PVH nurses are putting a lot of energy into quality improvement—pinpointing and accomplishing specific goals for each department.

Chief Nursing Officer Karen Mueller says the hospital has been strengthening its ties to the community by involving local schools. “We’ve been working with Husson College, Region III and other organizations to reach young nursing students and provide mentoring and internship programs.” Mueller says the PVH nurses are also quite active in their communities, donating their time to local churches, non-profits, schools, and civic organizations.

Mueller says the hospital provides a great atmosphere for learning and professional development. She says, “Nursing is a very rewarding career. Our nurses are committed to working to improve health care and patient safety. This is evident in the quality of nursing care provided and the compassion shown to our patients, their families and to each other. We, here at PVH, are very proud of our nurses and appreciate the work that they do every day.”