An opinion piece by the Australian Government’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Alison McMillan. When the World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, it could not have foreseen the health crisis that would engulf the world.
2020 also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale – the world’s most famous nurse and founder of modern nursing.
Her pioneering work was born out of crisis – war. And so it is today that nurses around the world and in Australia are once again on the frontline and in a war – this time against the dreadful coronavirus.
Here in Australia, our nurses are playing a crucial role across the patient care spectrum. They are working in respiratory clinics,