National Grateful Patient Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Nurses

The 7th of September is National Thankful Patient Day, and it is the ideal day to show our healthcare workers the gratitude they deserve. Additionally, the day honours the families and carers of anyone receiving life-sustaining medical care, as well as the courageous patients who are grateful to be alive. As long as medicine has existed, healthcare professionals have existed, and we can never thank them enough.

The background of National Grateful Patient Day

Healthcare professionals go above and beyond for our benefit, and although we often neglect it, they are one of the most indispensable members of our community. There isn’t much we can say or do to thank them for the saved lives, care, and treatments they provide, but a day like today allows us to at least attempt. Life-sustaining care has irreplaceable effects on both carers and patients.

In 2017, former NFL kicker and 2017 Man of the Year Rolf Benirschke founded the non-profit organisation The Grateful Patient Project. It provides a forum for patients to express their gratitude to the healthcare providers, medications, procedures, and institutions that helped them overcome illness and altered their lives.

In 1978, during his third season with the San Diego Chargers, Benirschke succumbed due to ulcerative colitis. He required two emergency surgeries within six days and spent almost six weeks in the intensive care unit contending for his life. He survived, returned to the NFL on September 7, 1980, and played seven more seasons with the San Diego Chargers. He was the first NFL player to sport an ostomy appliance.

Benirschke emerged from the ordeal determined to devote his life to advocating for patients, and he was inspired to found the organisation as an expression of gratitude to those who supported him throughout years of medical difficulties. National Grateful Patient Day is observed on September 7 to honour patients who have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and medical professionals who are always willing to lend a hand.

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5 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT NURSES

According to the “State of the World’s Nursing Report 2020,” approximately one in eight nurses worldwide practise in a country other than the one in which they were born.

In hospital contexts, registered nurses constitute a vast majority of the workforce.

In a 12-hour shift, nurses walk four to five miles, according to a recent study.

Approximately sixty percent of registered nurses do not work in hospitals.

In fact, some registered nurses who specialise in a domain and/or work overtime earn six figures, with nurse anesthesiology being the highest-paying nursing specialty field.

NATIONAL GRATEFUL PATIENT DAY DATES