May is National Nurses Month, a time when nurses, along with their allies and colleagues, celebrate our collective contributions to healthcare and society. The first National Nurses Week was observed from October 11 to 16, 1954, marking the centennial of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea. In fact, Nightingale and 38 nurses departed for Crimea on October 21, 1854. This year, the International Council of Nurses marks International Nurses Day (May 12) with the theme: Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives.
Lately, nursing has had to defend its rightful status as a profession while simultaneously responding to the social upheavals reshaping healthcare and our collective lives. It’s no surprise that many of us feel exhausted, even on our days off. And yet, perhaps because of these challenges, enrollment in nursing programs remains strong. It’s reassuring to know that so many are still drawn to the vast possibilities of the profession, eager to contribute their talents in meaningful ways.
But nursing is hard. Nurses are expected to save lives while remaining consistently compassionate and composed, meeting the needs of patients and the demands of the system over long stretches of time. As a member of the nursing faculty, I have the privilege of working with a new generation of nurses who aspire to make a difference. Teaching them the science of patient care is the easy part. The greater challenge lies in helping them see the day-to-day realities of bedside nursing as opportunities for fulfillment, and in cultivating a sense of wonder so they can find meaning and even joy in the work they do.
The power of nurses
During this year’s Nurses Week, the American Nurses Association highlights the “power of nurses.” Beyond the affirming slogan, I like to think that nurses do see themselves as a potent element in the alchemy of patient care. In reality, however, those who do great work rarely dwell on themselves; they’re more often fully absorbed in the task at hand. Many nurses also may perceive a tension between self-promotion and the profession’s core virtues.
At a recent seminar, facilitators asked us to identify our “superpower.” Unfamiliar with the question, I leaned over to the person next to me, assuming we were meant to name a favorite superhero—I was ready to say Wonder Woman. As it turned out, we were being asked to name a personal strength, something that sets us apart. So, I said: I’m good at showing up, as opposed to showing off, which I’m not good at, and arguably no one needs to be.
Presence and prescience
Presence and prescience are often quiet, easily overlooked qualities among healthcare workers. However, they shape some of the most meaningful moments in nursing—for patients and for those learning to become nurses.
The intentional act of being fully attentive—physically, emotionally, and cognitively with another person in the moment—defines presence. It’s more than simply “being there”; it’s conveying, through focus and demeanor, that the patient or learner matters right now. For patients, presence can transform clinical encounters into human ones: a steady gaze, an unhurried posture, a willingness to listen without interruption. And yes, to turn off one’s cell phone. These gestures communicate dignity, often as powerfully as any intervention. In precepting, presence signals to novice nurses that they’re supported. It creates psychological safety, making it easier for them to ask questions, admit uncertainty, and develop confidence.
Prescience, in contrast, is the cultivated ability to anticipate, drawing on knowledge, pattern recognition, and experience to foresee what may unfold. Patricia Benner calls this situational grasp for a sense of salience. It’s not prediction in a mystical sense, but an informed readiness—noticing subtle changes, connecting disparate cues, and acting early. For patients, prescience underlies vigilance, recognizing deterioration before it becomes a crisis and anticipating what needs to be done. In teaching, it allows preceptors to scaffold learning effectively, sensing when a student is ready to take the next step, when to intervene, and when to step back.
A nurse who’s present without prescience may be compassionate but reactive. It will be an impersonation, not an embodiment of nursing. Presence grounds the nurse in the immediacy of human connection; prescience extends that awareness forward, shaping what comes next. A nurse with prescience but without presence may be efficient but distant. The integration of both allows nurses to be patient-centered and anticipatory, deeply human and clinically astute.
On becoming a “good” nurse
The Code of Ethics for Nurses alludes to what it means to be a good nurse in the moral sense. The goodness of a nurse is easier appreciated than apprehended. With the infiltration of artificial intelligence into every aspect of life, it’s caring in the non-saccharine sense that makes us human. Carper was prescient when she wrote that the duty “to care for another human being involves becoming a certain kind of person—and not merely doing certain kinds of things.” When I was young, I wanted to be smart. Now that I’m older, I aspire to be wise. It’s comforting to know there are many things I’m still ignorant of and no longer have anxiety to know it all. But the thing I’m almost certain of is that the shortest distance between health and care is nursing. I hope it’s true.
Fidelindo Lim, DNP, CCRN, FAAN is a Clinical Associate Professor at New York University Meyers College of Nursing.
References
American Nurses Association. Code of Ethics for Nurses. 2025. codeofethics.ana.org/provisions
Carper B. Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing. ANS Adv Nurs Sci. 1978;1(1):13-23. doi:10.1097/00012272-197810000-00004c
