The International Nurses Day each year is an occasion to remember the forerunner of modern nursing: Florence Nightingale. She used scientific nursing methods in the Crimean War to reduce soldiers’ death rate from 50% to 2%, and created the first nurses’ school. To commemorate her distinguished contribution to nursing, the International Council of Nurses set her birthday as the International Nurses Day. Devoted to a grand cause, nurses are often silent, gentle, steadfast and angelic. On the eve of the 2016 International Nurses Day, we call for “respect and care for nurses” from each and every member of the PUMCH family.

“Respect and care for nurses” is an inscription of Chairman Mao for nurses in Yan’an, 1942. Most nurses are female. They spend days and nights at sickbeds, taking close care of patients together with doctors. After work, they study hard to improve themselves. In life, they are daughters, wives and mothers who shoulder family responsibilities. They are “half sky” in both families and hospitals.

Medical workers are under pressure from all sides in the present-day environment. Understanding, respect and a harmonious atmosphere between colleagues are particularly important. Members of the PUMCH family are not only co-workers but brothers and sisters. Cooperation between doctors and nurses is particularly critical to the treatment of patients. Currently, there are, however, some occasional discords that spoil the familiar atmosphere. Only when we respect each other and shoulder responsibilities together can we become a real family.