By: Lauren McRae

Nurses have always been the heart and soul of our healthcare system.

Across NorthShore we are celebrating Nurses’ Week and honoring the dedicated nursing professionals who consistently strive to provide quality nursing care. Did you know that nurses make up the largest group of our team members? Across our entire health system we have 4,200 nurses total – 2,300 at NorthShore legacy locations, 550 nurses at Swedish Hospital, and 1,350 nurses at Northwest Community Healthcare.

To celebrate National Nurses Week, when we recognize the contributions nurses make to our communities, we share with you some fun facts you might not know about nurses!

Pictured: Christian Del Rosario, RN, Evanston Hospital 

Did you know:

Florence Nightingale shaped the nursing profession and healthcare. Not only did she improve the standards, but she also enhanced the hospitals in which she worked. While working in a filthy facility during the Crimean War, Nightingale made recommendations for sanitary improvements. She was instrumental in developing many of the hygiene and sanitation practices now used in modern nursing.

There are three million nurses in the U.S. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there are about three million nurses across the United States. To put this into perspective, there are roughly as many nurses as people living in Los Angeles.

Nurses can be doctors. Nurses can obtain a Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing (Ph.D.) which is a research-focused doctorate, or a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) which is the highest available degree in nursing.

Linda Richards was the first American to earn a nursing degree. She enrolled in the nursing program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, and was the program’s first graduate in 1873.

Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African American RN. Born to freed slaves in 1845, Mary Eliza Mahoney enrolled in the nursing school operated by the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1878. Of the 42 students that entered the program that year, only four completed it – Mary Eliza Mahoney was one of those four students.

Nurses walk an average of 4 to 5 miles in a 12-hour shift. (The average American adult walks 2.5 to 3 miles over the course of an 18-hour day).