Promoting professionalism

Reflecting on International Nurses Day this month was a time to celebrate and be proud of why we entered the profession and why we call ourselves nurses. Among some truly wonderful examples of practice development and research shared at my own organisation's celebrations, two of the most powerful sessions for me included hearing personal stories from our ‘Daisy’ award winners and presenting four long service awards to nurses who had all delivered over 40 years of NHS nursing each. I felt very reconnected with the profession and reflected that we should never underestimate the difference we can make for the people that we work with and those in receipt of our services and their families.

In 2015, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published a strategy setting out development plans in order to fulfil its mission to protect patients and the public effectively and efficiently. This would incorporate the revised NMC Code (2018), containing a series of statements that taken together signify what good nursing and midwifery practice looks like: putting the interests of patients and service users first, providing safe and effective care and promoting trust through professionalism.