Nurses Week Appreciation

Each January, Gallup reports the results of its annual Honesty and Ethics poll that assesses 23 professions in the United States. To no one’s surprise ‒ and for the 23rd consecutive year ‒ nurses were deemed the most trusted profession in the most recent Gallup poll, with 76% of U.S. adults currently believing nurses have high honesty and ethical standards.

We share this today because May is National Nurses Month and May 6-12 is National Nurses Week, two healthcare recognitions meant to share appreciation for the approximately five million nurses across the country who choose to care for others as their profession. Nurses’ constant educational and empathetic interactions with patients help shape positive healthcare experiences, and their consistent, skilled care drives positive patient outcomes and truly makes our system work.

Nurses are often the go-to providers at every level of healthcare. At hospitals, they are responsible for any of the following:

• Assessing patients, from their medical history to their current health status
• Administering medications, treatments, and even assisting with medical procedures
• Monitoring patients’ vital signs and lab results to make sure they are responding to treatment
• Participating in the creation and implementation of patient care plans
• Educating patients and families about their health conditions, treatment plans, and how to manage health at home
• Communicating with physicians, specialists, and others to coordinate care
• Performing basic nursing tasks like changing bandages, cleaning wounds, and drawing blood samples
• Operating and monitoring medical equipment
• Advocating for patients

At SageWest Health Care, we love our nurses even more than those who respond to the Gallup poll. We trust them with our most valuable assets ‒ our patients ‒ and often marvel at their amazing caregiving and unwavering patient advocacy. We strive to be the preferred provider for our community and know that by supporting our nurses ‒ by empowering the hands that heal ‒ we can deliver the care that our patients expect and deserve.

To all of our nurses and nurses everywhere, thank you. Healthcare, at its core, is about people wanting to help others, and no one exemplifies that purpose more than our nurses.