Let me be clear: I love Nurses Week. I love that 200 landmarks around the world lit up red this year to honor the profession. I love that Congress — actual Congress — passed a bipartisan proclamation declaring 2026 the Year of the Power of Nurses. That's genuinely meaningful. The ANA is celebrating its 130th anniversary. The theme is "The Power of Nurses." I'm here for all of it.

I'm also here to tell you about Janet.

What is the Nurses Week 2026 theme?

The official theme from the American Nurses Association is "The Power of Nurses." It's a fitting title for an organization marking 130 years of advocacy, for a profession that counts over 5.7 million licensed nurses in the US alone. The ANA pulled out all the stops this year — landmark illuminations, online sessions on ethics and social justice, wellness challenges, awards.

The week runs May 6–12, ending on May 12: Florence Nightingale's birthday, and International Nurse Day. It's a week inside National Nurses Month, which runs all of May, which gives hospitals technically 31 days to do something meaningful and somehow still end up with a pizza party at shift change that nobody can attend because it's shift change.

How do hospitals actually celebrate Nurses Week? (The honest version)

Look, there are hospitals that do it right. Real recognition, meaningful gifts, actual nurse input on what the celebration looks like. Those hospitals exist. They also have good retention numbers, which is not a coincidence.

Then there's the rest of it. The branded tumbler that nurses already have fourteen of. The "appreciation lunch" scheduled during a shift handover so none of the night staff can attend.

 The certificate printed on regular paper from the supply closet. The balloon arch in the lobby that patients keep bumping into.

The disconnect is almost funny, if you're not too tired to laugh. Which — let's be honest — most nurses are by Wednesday of Nurses Week, because the staffing hasn't changed just because it's a special week.

What do nurses actually want for Nurses Week?

I asked around. Not a formal survey — just nurses, talking. The answers were consistent. Time off, when possible. Safe staffing ratios. To be included in decisions that affect the unit. Pay that reflects what they actually do.

And when it comes to gifts? Something they chose. Something that's actually them, not the hospital brand. Something they'd wear on their day off, not just during appreciation week.

The Empire State Building can go red. Congress can pass proclamations. Those things are real and they're good. Nursing as a profession has been invisible for too long, and this level of public acknowledgment matters.

But Janet knows who she is on a Tuesday night when there are no balloons and no city lights. She's known it for 14 years. The question is: does the gear she wears outside the hospital know it too?

Happy Nurses Week to every nurse who worked through the celebration. To every nurse who ate that granola bar because it was the only food available at 11pm. To every nurse who didn't make it to the lunch. To every Janet.

You are the power of nurses. The landmarks are just catching up.