Message from the Dean

In 1993, the first National Nurses Week was declared. Since then, National Nurses Week has been celebrated each year from May 6-12. This year, the celebration has been expanded to National Nurses Month in recognition of the contributions and impact of nurses in the U.S. This dedicated recognition of nurses’ contributions is worthy of nursing’s impact in our health care and public health systems and serves to spotlight the essential role of nurses in the transformation of health care.

The theme for Nurses Month 2022 is Nurses Make a Difference. Across the globe, nurses are indispensable in terms of scale, reach, and efficacy in the delivery of health care. For their essential role in delivering integrated, people-centered care, no global health agenda can be reached without the contributions of nurses and the support of a sustainable nursing workforce. In the U.S., nursing has been ranked as the single most trusted profession for 20 consecutive years.

For these and many other reasons, nurses—the nation’s largest segment of frontline health care providers—are uniquely poised to challenge paradigms, serve as leaders in transformed models of health care, and drive meaningful and impactful change. Through leadership, world-class nursing education, and exceptional clinical preparation, this is the difference we at DUSON strive to make.

Towards that end, DUSON is designing, evaluating, and disseminating nurse-led models of health care aimed at reimagining health care delivery with greater attention to prevention, overall wellness, disease management, use of technology in health care delivery, and locational preferences of individuals and groups. Incorporating nurse-led models of care into a framework with applicability and utility is a key strategy in DUSON’s efforts to prepare future generations of nurses to embrace leadership roles and implement approaches for addressing the social determinants of health.

The innovative and compelling models we are developing are aimed at meeting today’s greatest health challenges. Designed to reduce health inequity across populations and throughout health systems, these models are demonstrating improved health outcomes that are difficult to achieve with more traditional approaches, and they are helping to set a new standard for health care delivery. At DUSON, they are creating opportunities for students to participate in initiatives such as nurse-community-family partnerships and to engage in health policy issues.

Nurses do make a difference. By transforming health care delivery with nurse-led models of care, we are building pathways to better health outcomes and reducing health inequities. This is the power of nurse-led models of care, and this is the difference we, as nurses, can make.

To all our DUSON students, thank you for your commitment to the profession and to becoming the next generation of nursing leaders. To our faculty and staff, thank you for your work in transforming the clinical, educational, and research arenas and in advancing nursing science. To our alumni, thank you for your continued work in the field and for supporting the work we’re doing to transform the profession.

Please join me in celebrating National Nurses Month and recognizing the tangible impacts nurses have on real people, families, and communities.

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos
Dean, Duke University School of Nursing
Vice Chancellor, Nursing Affairs, Duke University