International Nurses Day: Nursing people, and communities, to better health
Today is International Nurses Day, a day to celebrate and recognise the vital contribution nurses make to our health and communities.
Associate Professor Cathleen Aspinall works jointly with Monash Nursing and Midwifery and Peninsula Health to enhance research capability and capacity. We asked her to reflect on the day’s theme, ‘Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for nurses strengthens economies’ - one that underscores the critical role a healthy nursing workforce plays in strengthening economies, improving health systems, and ensuring better outcomes for communities worldwide.
Here’s what she had to say:
“Reflecting on this year’s theme, I am reminded of the critical importance of prioritising the health and wellbeing of nurses. When nurses are supported and empowered, they strengthen economies, enhance health systems, and contribute to better outcomes for communities around the world.
“The International Council of Nurses, through their Charter for Change, urges all organisations and governments to value, protect, respect, and invest in nurses to ensure a sustainable future for healthcare. Nurses provide compassionate care and lead efforts to address global health challenges, often under immense pressure and personal risk. To value, protect, and respect nurses is to safeguard their ability and right to deliver high-quality, person-centred fundamental care.
“Failure to do so leads to poor patient outcomes, nurse burnout, moral distress, and low job satisfaction – factors that drive many away from the profession. It is therefore essential to provide the necessary resources, both human and material, to allow nurses to practice safely and effectively, and to resolve the tension between task-oriented approaches and meaningful, holistic care. Investing in the health and wellbeing of nurses is not only a moral obligation, it’s a strategic one. Countries that invest in a well-supported nursing workforce consistently report healthier populations, longer life expectancies, and more productive societies.
“At Monash Nursing and Midwifery, we proudly champion nurses as clinicians, scientists, researchers, educators, and leaders. We strive to elevate the role of nurses in health policy and decision-making, and we actively invest in the profession to strengthen healthcare systems. With a robust research culture, we’re expanding our clinical academic positions across partner organisations, bridging the gap between practice and academia.
“As the largest segment of the health workforce and the one working closest to health service users, nurses are uniquely positioned to identify and address pressing community health concerns. Joint clinical academic roles such as mine harness this frontline expertise, merging clinical insights with research capabilities to develop meaningful, bedside-to-bench solutions for our diverse communities.
“Nurses are powerful advocates for health equity and social justice, and especially now it has never been more important to create and foster safe environments for nurses, researchers, and students to engage and be supported as advocates of equity, diversity and inclusion.
“At Monash and with our clinical partners, we’re committed to nurturing the next generation of nurses while supporting the current workforce to practice to the full extent of their scope. Partnering with strong clinical executive nurse leadership and with targeted initiatives to build research capacity and capability, we’re fostering clinical academic careers that can lead transformative change in healthcare delivery in an often underutilised nursing research workforce.
“We focus not only on clinical excellence, but also on cultural safety, advocacy, and community engagement, ensuring that future nurses are resilient, skilled, and empowered to thrive in complex healthcare settings. Our vision is to develop practitioners who are also proactive research leaders, improving systems, advocating for change, and delivering equitable care.
“As we consider the vital role of nurses, I urge everyone to recognise, value, protect, and invest in this essential workforce. The time for action is now, as we face a global nursing workforce crisis.”