May 1, 2013

In 1953, Dorothy Sutherland of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare wrote to President Eisenhower, asking him to declare a National Nurse Day. Although he never acted on her request, an unofficial National Nurse Week was observed the next year, from October 11-16, 1954, exactly 100 years after Florence Nightengale’s mission to Crimea. In 1974, President Nixon finally proclaimed an official National Nurses Week, and its observance has evolved ever since. In recent years, we celebrated National Nurses Week from May 6 through Florence Nightengale’s birthday on May 12. Several individual days during the week are also observed to honor Student Nurses (on May 8) and School Nurses (on the Wednesday during each National Nurses Week).

To honor the evolution of nursing education in our country, Drexel College of Nursing and Health Professions is pleased to present a special edition of Chartings that celebrates our online nursing programs and the students, alumni, and faculty who champion this important delivery format. In this issue, you will encounter stories about exceptional alumni who followed their hearts to find fulfilling careers in nursing, about a Drexel couple who are using transdisciplinary simulations to improve women’s health worldwide, and about the way that Drexel’s nursing programs are changing in stride with the Affordable Care Act and the aging population.