Which two phrases should you stop using this Nurses Week?

by Michael Jones

National Nurses Week is upon us! Officially going from Saturday, May 6 to Friday, May 12, 2023, with the 2023 theme being “Nurses Make a Difference: Anytime, Anywhere – Always”. According to the American Nurses Association, there are currently over 4 million Registered Nurses in America. 

The history of National Nurses Week can be traced back to 1953, when Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare drafted a proposal to President Eisenhower to recognize a "Nurse Day" beginning in October of the following year. The proclamation was not made, yet many nurses did indeed begin celebrating Nurses Week in October 1954. A National Nurses Week was attempted unsuccessfully several times up to  the early 1970s to February of 1974 when President Nixon authorized an official proclamation for National Nurses Week, and from 1982 to 1990, beginning with the American Nurses Association declaring National Nurses day to be May 6, 1982, with the extension to our current recognition of Nurses Week. 

Knowing this brief overview of the history of National Nurses Week can help you to recognize and honor the nurses in your practice, your organization, and in your community. 

Some ideas of ways to celebrate National Nurses Week are:

• Find or sponsor community activities to recognize local nurses

• Provide a meal voucher or gift certificate for dinner to your nurses and their families

• Schedule a massage therapist to be at your practice to give 15 minute de-stressing massages to nurses

• Interview the nurses in your practice to learn why they became a nurse

• Showcase your nursing team on social media

• Write a handwritten thank you note to each of your nurses

The ideas for celebrating the nurses you know are plentiful and limited only by your imagination, commitment, and of course, budget.

With the celebration of all things nurses this week, what then, are two phrases you should stop using this Nurses Week? Those words are “mid-level” and “physician extender”. Many times, nurses enter their profession for the love of caring for patients. Some are called to a higher degree of education and commitment, and pursue advanced degrees, such as Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthetist. 

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, among many other organizations and individuals, have called for an awareness of and elimination of the use of these two terms to describe Nurse Practitioners and others, citing that these terms confuse the public and do not accurately describe the magnitude of the scope of a Nurse Practitioner. 

The origin of the term is likely traced to physicians or support organizations, and is referenced by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1300.01(b28), meaning “an individual practitioner, other than a physician, dentist, veterinarian, or podiatrist, who is licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted by the United States or the jurisdiction in which he/she practices, to dispense a controlled substance in the course of professional practice. Examples of mid-level practitioners include, but are not limited to, health-care providers such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and physician assistants who are authorized to dispense controlled substances by the state in which they practice." 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services now uses the term “non-physician practitioners” rather than the previous term “physician extenders”.

Beyond the reasons cited by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, many nurses consider the terms derogatory or demeaning. Barton Associates even shared the results of a 2015 poll of approximately 1,380 Nurse Practitioners, who were asked which terms were most offensive. The results are shown below:

• Midlevel (487 votes)

• Noctor (356 votes)

• Physician Extender (335 votes)
  

So this year, celebrate National Nurses Week with all the nurses you know. Build an experience that your nurses will appreciate, and help raise awareness of a term your Nurse Practitioners will likely appreciate very much!