Challenging traditional attitudes has been neither easy nor resulted in quick change. Thus, nurses continue to maintain their resilience and versatility and continue to try to effect changes, even though there is a high probability that they will be frustrated by their efforts. Nursing has undergone tremendous changes from the beginning of this century to the present. What has not changed is the deep commitment that nurses have to others, and the selflessness that enters into the decision to enter nursing and to stay in it. Many of the conflicts that nurses face today have to do with the explosion of technology.
Human beings have limits to their adaptive powers.
Most nurses are aware that there is no value in watching a person die for lack of technology. Nor is there any value to have technology available only to keep someone alive and then rob him of the right to die with dignity. Nursing, more than any other profession, has strived to approach each human being as an integrated entity and consider the cultural differences of each patient, the customs and taboos, which are influential in that patient's experience. The purpose of setting aside a day to celebrate a particular profession is to remind the community of the contribution of the individual or the profession. Nurses are key to the healthy functioning of any community.