2020: unleashing the full potential of nursing

In December, the UK's nursing profession will celebrate the centenary of the Nurses Registration Act 1919, which set training and education standards for nursing and introduced regulation of the profession. This milestone nicely segues into 2020, designated by WHO as the first ever international year of the nurse and midwife. 2020 was chosen to honour the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale—nursing's most iconic figure—who cared for soldiers during the Crimean War and established nursing as a respectable profession for women.