“Nursing is such a rewarding experience, I just cannot imagine doing anything else,” states a second-year nursing student. It might come as a surprise to some that a person who devotes his or her career to helping others feels that they are the lucky one. “I guess we get so much because we give so much,” she observes. To those of us who have been in nursing for any length of time, that imperative still holds true.

Who is a nurse? Can I be a nurse?

Nursing is a challenging and rewarding career that takes a keen mind, determination, and the desire to make a difference. Nursing also takes critical thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal skills, flexibility, and a strong background in mathematics and science.

Nurses are important to the health care system, improving the quality of human life around the clock, focusing on how individuals and families respond to actual or potential health problems. Nurses are educated to anticipate and meet the needs of the whole person rather than just the presenting health problem. A nurse’s knowledge of disease and illness is blended with the most up-to-date technologies and a caring approach to restore and maintain the health of an individual or family.

It is our goal that a Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences nursing graduate who cares for you or one of your family members will be dedicated, competent, educated, compassionate, empathetic, skilled, knowledgeable, caring, calm, objective, reliable, dignified, ethical, professional, practical, personal, rational, reliable, reasonable, and kind. They will also realize that nursing in a ministry—practicing the core values of the College: Nurture, Excellence, Spirituality, and Stewardship.

Our students are truly an inspiration to those of us who claim this profession as our own, as well as to their families and others in their communities. Help us raise public awareness of the value of nursing. Help us educate the public about the vital roles registered nurses play in meeting health care needs.

Please do not forget to thank the nurses in your life for the quality of work and care that they provide 365 days per year. To members of the nursing community, it is our shared responsibility to promote the profession of nursing and participate in shaping the future of nursing and health care.

Pay tribute to those who provide highly-skilled, safe, quality care, and are committed professionally and ethically to “extending the health ministry of Christ.”

Thank you nurses! Join us as we Celebrate Nursing on October 6, 2008!