Celebrating our nurses #ThankYouNurses

You might ask – when do you celebrate the work that nurses do? The correct answer should be ‘every day,’ because they are just that important to the delivery of patient-centered health care. However, this week is National Nurses Week, so we’re going to take some extra moments to honor and highlight the critical role nurses play in the health care teams here at UC Davis Health. 

In partnership with the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and our nation-leading health care delivery system, we are helping to train the nurse leaders and advanced nursing practitioners of the future. Some of life’s most profound episodes are spent with a nurse – from the labor and delivery of a child to being at the bedside with an aging parent -  and this is truer now, more than ever, as nurses join with others as a integral part of our care delivery teams to work on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19, and in the absence of hospital visits, lending their indispensable humanity to the delivery of essential medical care

The World Health Organization has also designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse,” which takes on special meaning this year. It’s not only that we are a little over a week away from the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, it’s that since that time nurses have become true partners to our physicians in delivering health care around the world. We’ve seen numerous examples of this during the current pandemic, helping countless patients get healthier and working long days to save lives. Nurses Week is the perfect opportunity to honor them for their professionalism and dedication to patients.

At UC Davis Health, we launched an audio series to share stories from our own nurses. Please take some time and listen to their remarkable stories and how they touch so many lives with their healing talents.

To our current and future nurses: Your passion and dedication to our patients’ health and emotional well-being is appreciated every day. On behalf of our patients, thank you for all you do.