Every year around this time we celebrate national nurses week in honor of Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12. Nurse Nightingale is known as the “founder of modern nursing” for the way she tended to wounded soldiers in unsanitary conditions during the Crimean War, improving sanitary nursing practices that helped reduce the death count tremendously.

Nurses play an important role in the treatment of the sick and injured. They spend more time with patients than physicians during acute situations and offer more compassionate personal care. In addition to addressing physical care needs, nurses’ roles include communicating, care management, patient advocacy and more. Nurses also become teachers for their patients to help them move on to the next steps of recovery. It is important to recognize that quality nursing care is an important factor in a successful outcome.

Beyond the hospital, there are many times when our clients require additional nursing care. Many times this can be costly for the patient and their families. We are glad to be able to help victims reach a settlement to cover their nursing care needs and we think the nurses who step in during these trying times deserve a huge shout out.

If you know a compassionate nurse, please be sure to give them extra praise this week for the wonderful work they do.