May 12 is celebrated as International Nurse's Day around the world. MedPortal once again publishes its classic material about the history of this difficult and vital profession, as well as about the people who choose it.
Florence Nightingale's Legacy
For the first time, the idea of celebrating Nurse's Day was announced in 1953, but this holiday has been celebrated since 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 sisters of mercy, Nightingale worked in field hospitals during the Crimean War, where she managed to implement the principles of sanitation and care for the wounded. As a result, in less than six months, the mortality rate in hospitals dropped from 42% to 2%. Later, Florence achieved a complete reorganization of the army medical service and created a nurse training system in the UK.
In 1912, the Florence Nightingale Medal was established, which is still the most honorary award for nurses. It is awarded to nurses and medical volunteers for bravery and dedication. The first Nightingale medal in the USSR was received by the participants of the Great Patriotic War: Guard Lieutenant Colonel of the Tank Forces Irina Levchenko and surgical sister Lidia Savchenko.
Nurses of Nikolai Pirogov
The famous surgeon Nikolai Pirogov, also during the Crimean War, made a huge contribution to the creation and popularization of nursing in Russia. During the defense of Sevastopol in 1854, the besieged city was overflowing with the wounded, and the surgeon realized that doctors alone could not cope with this. He created the profession of a nurse, which at that time were girls from high society. They volunteered for the care of the sick and worked only for food, clothing and housing.
Later, when foreigners announced Florence Nightingale as the organizer of the world's first service of sisters of mercy, Pirogov wrote that the «Exaltation of the Cross Community of Sisters of Care for the Wounded and Sick» was established in October 1854, and in November of that year she was already at the front. He heard about the merits of Miss Nightingale only at the beginning of 1855.
The most numerous category of medical workers
Today, nurses are professionals who have received basic medical education and follow the instructions of a doctor or paramedic to care for patients.
In every country, nurses make up the largest category of health workers, since in medical practice a large proportion of medical services are provided exclusively by nursing staff. Most nurses in Finland: 2162 per 100,000 people, the least — in Haiti: 5 per 100,000 people.
Nurses are divided according to the profile of work. So, there is a chief nurse, a senior nurse, a ward (guard) nurse, a procedural nurse, an operating nurse, a district nurse, a dietary nurse who is responsible for therapeutic nutrition. There are also nurses working at the reception of patients with doctors of narrow specialties.
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 a nurse.
The doctor's support and hope
The main task of the nurse is to follow the instructions and prescriptions of the doctor. She measures temperature and pressure, makes dressings, gives injections, vaccinations, helps the doctor during surgical operations and medical manipulations, gives medicines, monitors the condition and well-being. At the same time, she cannot independently conduct an examination, make diagnoses and prescribe treatment. In fact, the nurse is the right hand and the main assistant to the doctor, who takes on the hardest work. Literally heavy — according to American studies, the average nurse on duty lifts about 1600 kg, including medical equipment and patients.
In some countries of Western Europe, the maximum shift time for a nurse is 10 hours. This time must not be exceeded, since with an increase in working hours, the risk of making medical errors and harming the health of patients increases.
A nurse is also a sister
Given that 80% of the medical staff 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 40 men, but in an average Russian hospital, a completely different picture is observed: only 6% of nurses are men. Interestingly, the same sex ratio among nursing staff is observed in the US and Canada.
Officially, the position of «nurse» appeared in Russia not so long ago, and before that, the entry «nurse» was in the work books of nurses.
Hard and thankless work
Wages and working conditions for nurses This is one of the pressing problems of modern healthcare. In 2019, Russian polyclinics experienced a shortage of 25,000 doctors and about 130,000 nurses and nurses. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this problem. According to the portal GorodRabot.ru, 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 the vacancies of the portal is more than 37 thousand rubles.
The lowest salaries for nurses in Kalmykia and Chechnya are 16,000 rubles. In Crimea, the 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 are almost 48,000 rubles, in Chukotka — 43,000, in the Magadan region — 41,000.