Nurses from China lit candles before the pictures of Florence Nightingale,and held a range of activities to commemorate International Nurses Day on May 12.

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Florence Nightingale,who came to be known as "The Lady with the Lamp", was a pioneer of modern nursing, a writer and a noted statistician.

Florence Nightingale Famous for her work in the military hospitals of the Crimea, Nightingale established nursing as a respectable profession for women.

Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820, and named after the city of her birth. Her wealthy parents were in Florence as part of a tour of Europe. In 1837, Nightingale felt that God was calling her to do some work but wasn't sure what that work should be. She began to develop an interest in nursing, but her parents continued it to be a profession inappropriate to a woman of her class and background, and would not allow her to train as a nurse. They expected her to make a good marriage and live a conventional upper class woman's life.

Nightingale's parents eventually relented and in 1851, she went to Kaiserwerth in Germany for three months nursing training. This enabled her to become superintendent of a hospital for gentlewomen in Harley Street, in 1853. The following year, the Crimean War began and soon reports in the newspapers were describing the desperate lack of proper medical facilities for wounded British soldiers at the front. Sidney Herbert, the war minister, already knew Nightingale, and asked her to oversee a team of nurses in the military hospitals in Turkey. In November 1854, she arrived in Scutari in Turkey. With her nurses, she greatly improved the conditions and substantially reduced the mortality rate

She returned to England in 1856. In 1860 she established the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital in London. Once the nurses were trained, they were sent to hospitals all over Britain, where they introduced the ideas they had learnt, and established nursing training on the Nightingale model. Nightingale's theories, published in 'Notes on Nursing' (1860), were hugely influential and her concerns for sanitation, military health and hospital planning established practices which are still in existence today. She died on 13 August 1910.

       ５月１２日是国际护士节，国际护士理事会把今年护士节的主题定为：“提高社区护理品质，引领初级卫生保健”。

      国际护士节是为了纪念英国护理学先驱、妇女护士职业创始人和现代护理教育奠基人弗洛伦斯·南丁格尔而设立的。

    南丁格尔１８２０年５月１２日生于意大利佛罗伦萨一个富裕家庭，后随父母迁居英国。１８５０年，她不顾家人反对，前往德国学习护理。１８５４年至１８５６年克里米亚战争期间，南丁格尔率领护理人员奔赴英军战地医院，通过健全医院管理制度，提高护理质量，使伤员死亡率大幅度下降，被战地士兵称为“提灯女神”。

    １８６０年，南丁格尔在英国圣托马斯医院建立了世界上第一所正规护士学校。她撰写的《医院笔记》、《护理笔记》等主要著作成为医院管理、护士教育的基础教材。１９０１年，南丁格尔因操劳过度，双目失明。１９０７年，为表彰南丁格尔对医疗工作的卓越贡献，英国国王授予她功绩勋章，她也成为英国首位获此殊荣的妇女。１９１０年，南丁格尔逝世。

    为纪念南丁格尔对护理事业做出的卓越贡献，１９１２年，国际护士理事会将南丁格尔的诞生日定为国际护士节，以激励广大护士继承和发扬护理事业的光荣传统，以“爱心、耐心、细心、责任心”对待每一位病人，做好护理工作。

    从１９８８年开始，每年的国际护士节都有一个主题，国际或地区相关组织均围绕这个主题在世界各地开展纪念活动。国际护士理事会今年以“提高社区护理品质，引领初级卫生保健”为主题，目的就在于强调初级卫生保健的重要性，以及护士在初级卫生保健中所扮演的重要角色。

    初级卫生保健的对象是居民群体，关系到全世界的每个居民、每个家庭、每个社区。居民不仅享有卫生保健的权利，同时有参与实施初级卫生保健的义务。因此，国际护士理事会呼吁护士深入社区，提高服务质量，以自身努力带动居民关注及参与初级卫生保健，进而推动卫生事业不断向前发展。