“This year we decided to recover the profound etymological meaning of the word nurse”, nurse in English, “which derives from ancient French and, in turn, from the Latin ‘nutrix’, which means to nourish”. A nurse is therefore someone who “feeds, assists, stays close, nurtures. There are 460 thousand nurses, of which 9 thousand are pediatric. 76% are women. Our first thoughts therefore go to all our colleagues, women and nurses, who treat, who take care of, who feed and who raise.” Thus Barbara Mangiacavalli, national president of the Federation of Nursing Orders and Professions (Fnopi), explains to Adnkronos the meaning of the theme ‘Let’s nourish health’ chosen for the International Nurses’ Day which is celebrated on 12 May, the anniversary of her birth – 12 May 1820 – by Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing sciences.
“We want to return to our origins – continues Mangiacavalli – to the profound sense of taking care of those in need, of the people who come to the attention of nurses”, but also “of their caregivers and family members to ensure that the relationship becomes care, that anyone who comes into contact with a nurse feels cared for and nourished from the point of view of the relationship and from the point of view of technical-scientific skills”.
On this day, “in the various territories – explains the president of the Federation – the orders, boards of directors and register commissions are organized to involve citizens and institutions in local initiatives and raise awareness of the nursing profession. They are cultural, scientific and institutional initiatives” that bring young people, adolescents and families closer to the “profound sense of caring and nurturing. We are aware that we have chosen a slogan that is demanding – observes Mangiacavalli – not only from an ethical-deontological point of view, but also institutional and professional. We have an extraordinary national health service” which, however, needs to “nurture professionals, because they are intangible capital, to function. Without healthcare professionals, but also technical and administrative ones, our NHS could not exist as we know it. And it is important that this concept enters all political and institutional agendas, because we need to maintain it, nurture it, guard it. The Constitution, with article 32 – underlines Mangiacavalli – has established a fundamental principle”, that of health. The NHS must therefore not be considered “as a cost of public administration, but is one of the elements which, together with education and defence, has led us to be the second longest-lived country in the world, after Japan”.
The slogan of ‘Feeding health’ also helps to rekindle “the spotlight on the profound crisis which, as a federation, we have denounced and which was exacerbated by the significant shortage of personnel in the Covid years but which, obviously”, was latent” for a long time – clarifies Mangiacavalli – As we have always said and written, the number of nurses was insufficient”, even before Covid. “They simply weren’t hired and for this reason”, over the years “many colleagues, around 30 thousand, have gone abroad where there is career development, recognition of specialist skills, which is not yet available in Italy”. In other countries, in fact, “an autonomy of professional practice is recognized, also due to a long course of study and specialization which. in Italy, it is still missing, in addition obviously to the objective legal and economic evidence”.
In this regard “we need to work, and on this there is a strong concrete commitment, from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the University – specifies the president Fnopi – so that training can be further qualified towards master’s degrees with a specialization specialist clinical skills and be able to also exercise advanced specialist skills. But there is also a need to work on the conditions of exercise, beyond public-employment exercise, and expand the possibility to other forms of exercise” such as “in the subsidized and freelance profession” by removing the current “constraints” so that “the nursing profession, in the National Health Service – he concludes – can express all its potential”.
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