Often unsung heroes, nurses play a vital role in ensuring successful patient care and outcomes. As we celebrate National Nurses Month and Week, it’s a great time to recognize healthcare professionals’ invaluable contributions — and find ways to honor their hard work throughout the year.

Lorna Dudzik DNP, RN, APN, CNS, CEN, a registered nurse and assistant professor of nursing at Rush University, shared her insights on nurses’ responsibilities and effective ways to appreciate these professionals year-round.

The Unseen Role of Nurses

Nurses undertake many responsibilities daily, from assessing and diagnosing to organizing, coordinating and troubleshooting — all while using critical thinking skills.

“I genuinely believe nurses are jacks of all trades and masters of many,” Dudzik noted.

Behind the scenes, nurses are the backbone of healthcare, navigating dynamic and complex environments to ensure patient safety and well-being. Dudzik emphasized nurses’ pivotal role, from CPR interventions to managing life-and-death situations with expertise and care.

Dudzik highlighted several ways in which nurses’ work often goes unrecognized:

• Nurses’ critical thinking skills are crucial in every aspect of patient care, from intake to discharge.
• Nurses navigate dynamic and technologically complex healthcare environments, often encountering life-threatening situations that demand swift action.
• Nurses are the first responders in emergencies like sudden cardiac arrest, playing a vital role in saving and stabilizing patients.
• Acting as gatekeepers, protectors and healers, nurses adapt to challenges and scenarios in various healthcare settings.

Why Regular Recognition Matters

Nursing can be inherently rewarding. Dudzik reflected on times she felt particularly valued during her nursing career. She explained that her sense of value and appreciation comes from intrinsic experiences like witnessing patients’ improved health outcomes, noting that these moments have helped her gain new perspectives on the challenging profession.

“I chose to enter this profession because I wholeheartedly believe nursing is one of the most noble professions,” Dudzik noted. “Decades later, I still feel this way.”

However, nurse burnout and moral distress are very real and can affect overall morale and individual resilience. So, according to Dudzik, recognizing and appreciating nurses isn’t just a gesture — it’s a necessity for maintaining job satisfaction and retention rates. Nurses are the heartbeat of healthcare organizations, and their role is consistently rated as the most trusted profession. Without their dedication and expertise, healthcare systems would struggle.

Dudzik detailed the importance of continuous recognition and appreciation to sustain nurses’ morale and commitment to quality patient care.

Meaningful Ways to Recognize Nurses

While appreciation lunches, a free hospital umbrella or a banner highlighting nurses as heroes are thoughtful and well intended, they aren’t enough. To show appreciation and truly recognize healthcare professionals, Dudzik said organizations must value their worth and treat them with respect — not just talk the talk but walk the walk, too.

“To retain nurses, organizations must continuously and fervently partner alongside us to improve work conditions, nurse-to-patient ratios and RNs’ compensation,” Dudzik emphasized.

Healthcare leaders and colleagues can routinely show gratitude through meaningful actions, including:

• Creating safe nurse-to-patient ratios
• Offering competitive compensation
• Increasing staffing during shortages
• Providing attentive leadership that demonstrates genuine appreciation and value for nurses’ contributions

Dudzik also stated that organizations can show appreciation by providing resources and systems that enable nurses to deliver high-quality patient care. “We rely on the resources and built-in systems that organizations provide us to make things work and ensure the utmost excellence in high-quality patient care and outcomes,” she said.

For example, when attentive leaders “provide increased ‘manpower’ to bolster staffing when RNs are short-staffed and overwhelmed,” Dudzik said, “this goes a long way toward making nurses feel appreciated, respected and valued.”

Initiatives to Attract the Next Generation of Nurses

Dudzik pointed out that the nursing profession faces a perfect storm of factors that may leave the world short of almost 4.5 million nurses by 2030, as the World Health Organization forecasted. The rising costs of higher education exacerbate this concerning trend, making it challenging for aspiring nurses to pursue prelicensure nursing degrees.

“A prelicensure nursing degree is not only costly, but the curriculum is rigorous and a major time commitment,” Dudzik explained. “Our universities, government officials and leaders with deep pockets must find solutions and options to help make a nursing degree more affordable and obtainable.” She further emphasized that attracting the next generation of nurses also requires addressing morale issues and fixing broken healthcare system issues that RNs face today.

In addition to better compensation and improved work conditions, such as safe nurse-to-patient ratios, organizations “must invest in their nurses to create a culture of mutual respect in which their staff wish to grow and stay,” Dudzik noted. In doing so, the healthcare industry can ensure a strong and sustainable workforce of nurses who provide high-quality patient care.

Honoring Nurses Beyond Nurses Week

While National Nurses Month and Week is a designated time for appreciation, efforts to honor nurses should extend throughout the year. Initiatives like affordable education for aspiring nurses, improved work conditions and competitive compensation are crucial for attracting and retaining the next generation of nurses.

Investing in nurses’ well-being creates a sustainable and thriving healthcare workforce.