10 Nurse Advocacies and Campaigns You Need to Know

For most of the last few decades, nursing was nearly invisible in health news. "The Woodhull Study Revisited: Nurses' Representation in Health News Media" confirmed it: a study done two decades earlier found nurses were rarely quoted or covered, and the follow-up found nothing had changed. That has shifted. Nurses have learned to organize, use social media, and make their voices carry, and several campaigns show what that looks like in practice. Here are 10 worth knowing.

1. 2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife

The World Health Organization designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, marking the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. The designation came after sustained lobbying by the Nursing Now movement and the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and it pushed national attention toward what nurses do and the staffing and policy issues threatening the profession's future.

2. The Nursing Now Campaign

Nursing Now was a three-year global campaign launched in 2018 to improve perceptions of nurses, strengthen their influence, and expand their contribution to healthcare access. The UK Burdett Trust for Nursing ran it alongside the ICN and WHO, with backing from public figures and policymakers. It worked through local groups: more than 200 of them across over 80 countries, each driving change in its own setting.

3. Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation

The American Nurses Association launched Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation to get registered nurses to improve their own health across five areas: physical activity, nutrition, rest, quality of life, and safety. The premise is blunt. Nurses are less healthy than the average American, more likely to be overweight, more stressed, and getting less sleep. As the largest and most trusted health profession, nurses set the example their patients follow, so their own health is not a side issue.

4. The Senator Walsh outcry

When Washington State Senator Maureen Walsh said nurses in smaller hospitals probably spend much of the day playing cards, the response was immediate and national. A petition started by registered nurse Juliana Bindas gathered roughly 830,000 signatures in about two weeks. The practical result: the bill on nurses' shifts and breaks passed without the Senate's proposed amendments.

5. Show Me Your Stethoscope

Show Me Your Stethoscope (SMYS) started after nurses were mocked publicly for wearing "doctor's stethoscopes" and grew into an online movement of roughly 650,000 members. It is run by nurses on the premise that the collective weight of millions of nurses can force change. SMYS has held rallies, funded scholarships, and supported nurses in need, including RaDonda Vaught, who was criminally charged with reckless homicide after a fatal medication error.

6. Nurse Florence Smith

When salary and staffing talks stalled in New Zealand, two nurses launched a Facebook page under the pseudonym Florence Smith with the hashtag #HearOurVoices. It spread until thousands of nurses joined countrywide marches on Nurses' Day. In July of that year, New Zealand nurses went on strike for the first time in 30 years. Further strikes were averted by an improved pay offer and a commitment to address staffing.

7. New York State Nurses Association

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) reached a tentative agreement with several New York hospital systems after filing an intent to strike. The deal set staffing ratios, funded the hiring of 1,500 new nurses, and committed an additional $100 million to bring on more.

8. ANG NARS Partylist

ANG NARS Partylist is a movement in the Philippines that represents nurses in the legislature. It has pushed for higher pay, better working conditions, and a stronger nursing law for Filipino nurses.

9. Men into Nursing Together

Men into Nursing Together (MINT), started at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK by nursing students and lecturers, works to recruit more men into the profession, using social media to carry its message.

10. Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called on the public and on nurses to back its push to address hospital staffing shortages. Its argument is that low pay plus chronic shortages drives nurses to leave the profession or emigrate.

Use your voice

You make a difference with your knowledge and skills, and you could do more if shortages, nurse-patient ratios, and the rest were resolved. There are more than 29 million nurses worldwide, close to half the global health workforce. That is real leverage. Join nursing and community organizations, take committee roles at work and on policy bodies, and build your leadership and negotiation skills. The numbers only matter if nurses use them.