The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is based in Silver Spring, Maryland and Jennifer Mensik Kennedy is the current president.
Ethel Gordon Fenwick was a British nurse who played a major role in the History of Nursing in the United Kingdom. She campaigned to procure a nationally recognised certificate for nursing, to safeguard the title "Nurse", and lobbied Parliament to pass a law to control nursing and limit it to "registered" nurses only.
Dame Alicia Frances Jane Lloyd Still, was a British nurse, teacher, hospital matron and leader of her profession. She was one of the leaders in the campaign for state registration of nurses. Following the Nurses Registration Act 1919, she was a member of the General Nursing Council (1920-1937). As chairwoman of the General Nursing Council's first Education and Examinations Committee she helped establish the first national examination standards for the registration of nurses.
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN), formed in 2012 from a merger of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia and the College of Nursing, is the professional body for nursing in Australia. ACN advocates, develops policy, and provides education to advance the status of nursing nationally and internationally.
Judith Shamian is a Canadian nurse who served as president of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) from 2013-2017 before being succeeded by Annette Kennedy. She was elected to the position at the ICN Quadrennial Congress at Melbourne, Australia in May 2013. Shamian has published and spoken on nursing-related topics internationally.
Bergljot Larsson was a Norwegian nurse, educator, editor and organizational leader. She was a founding member of the Norwegian Nurses Organization which she chaired from 1912 until 1935.
Annie Warren Gill & Bar was a British nurse who served as president of the College of Nursing in 1927.
National Student Nurses Day takes place on 8 May every year.
The British College of Nurses was set up in 1926 by Ethel Bedford Fenwick in order to offer its members professional education and support of various kinds. It was to be run by nurses, for nurses, in a democratic manner. Fenwick had many supporters but the College only lasted for thirty years.
Margaret Rachel Huxley (1854–1940) was an English nurse who introduced structured, scientific nursing training in Ireland. Her initiatives led to the establishment of the first nursing school in Dublin. She was involved in numerous organisations promoting professionalism in nursing and campaigning for nurse registration throughout the British Isles.
Helga Charlotte Norrie, née Harbou, was a Danish nurse, women's rights activist and educator. She was a major contributor to the development of nursing as an acceptable profession for women and also campaigned for women's rights, especially voting rights.
Take Hagiwara (1873-1936) was a Japanese nurse, trained by the Red Cross, and sometimes referred to as the "Japanese Nightingale". She graduated from nursing school in 1897 and after touring Europe and studying hospitals there, was appointed as the first commoner to direct the Japanese Red Cross. In 1920, she led a successful campaign to assist Polish orphans who had become refugees in Siberia and that same year was one of the inaugural recipients of the Florence Nightingale Medal. She served as an honorary delegate to the International Council of Nurses (ICN) for 22 years before she was able to found the Nursing Association of the Japanese Empire in 1929 and gain full admission to the ICN in 1933. She was the Superintendent of Nursing for the Japanese Red Cross for 36 years.
Ellen Johanne Broe was a Danish nurse who spent several decades working and seeking education abroad before returning to Denmark and helping to establish educational and training initiatives in Denmark. She helped draft minimum curriculum requirements for nursing students, as well as continuing education guidelines. She was active in the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and sought to find ways to bring nursing education to developing areas most in need of trained nursing staff. She received the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1961 for her contributions to nursing excellence.
Nina Diadamia Gage was an American nurse who was a leading teacher of modern nursing in China, and ran a nursing school in Hunan province. She was president of the International Council of Nurses from 1925 to 1929. After returning from China to the US in 1927 she held various senior nursing posts in nursing education.
The Royal British Nurses' Association was founded in December 1887 by Ethel Bedford-Fenwick.
Rosalie Dreyer was a Swiss-born naturalised British nurse and administrator. Immigrating to England at the age of eighteen, she trained as a nurse in London and worked her way through the ranks to become matron, principal matron and chief matron-in-charge of the Nursing Service of the London County Council. Dreyer was a pioneer in the development of Britain's public-funded nursing service.
Katharine Jane Densford (1890–1978) was an American nurse who made important contributions to nursing education and to nursing services during World War II. Densford was Director of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, serving in that position from 1930 to 1959. Densford’s leadership of Minnesota’s flagship school of nursing, located in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area provided the model for nursing education throughout the state and nation. Her pragmatic leadership during World War II made a significant contribution to the United States war effort.
Nelly Garzón Alarcón was a Colombian nurse and teacher, recognized as the first Latin American nurse to be president of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). In her day, she was one of the Colombian women who had the greatest relevance in science at the international level.
Daisy Caroline Bridges CBE was a nurse, midwife and British nursing administrator. In 1961 retired as the ICN's General Secretary and in 1967 she published a history of the International Council of Nurses.
