Overview and Summary: The Humanitarian Spirit of Nursing

Nurses have long been the foundation of humanitarian health efforts, whether in disasters, conflict zones, refugee crises, or underserved communities. Besides providing clinical care, nurses embody humanitarian values that lead to real improvements in health outcomes. This topic explores how nurses' humanitarian roles—rooted in compassion, sacrifice, and personal connection—are closely linked to advocacy efforts, which in turn enhance patient and population health.

In crisis-based humanitarian settings, nurses voluntarily provide medical and psychosocial care under extreme circumstances. One study examining Italian volunteer nurses serving refugees during the Ukrainian conflict found that nurses not only addressed urgent clinical needs but also offered hope and human connection, often in resource-poor, high-stress environments (Caggianelli et al., 2025). These missions restore nurses to a “purest form” of healthcare—delivering care rooted in human presence, empathy, and alleviation of suffering (Batiridou et al, 2025). Nurses not only meet immediate needs but also help stabilize communities by leading research, education, and policy efforts to ensure basic health services are accessible to everyone, even in the most challenging environments.

The humanitarian spirit of nursing naturally aligns with advocacy. At the bedside, nurses advocate for individual patients’ autonomy, safety, and dignity, promoting therapeutic communication and intervening when necessary to uphold care standards (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012). Beyond individual care, nurses also engage in policy advocacy addressing social determinants of health. Adopting a “Health in All Policies” approach (Green et al, 2021), nurses collaborate across sectors to promote social justice, equity, and investment in living conditions for disadvantaged populations (Green et al, 2021; International Council of Nurses, 2021). Research shows that effective nurse advocacy—both individual and systemic—leads to better outcomes (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).

At the community level, nurses addressing social needs such as food insecurity, transportation, and housing help prevent disease and promote health, working to reduce health disparities and achieve measurable community health improvements (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). Nurses also advocate for systemic change that tackles the root causes of humanitarian issues by engaging in policy development, research, and education to find and develop solutions that benefit everyone. By using their trusted voice within communities and at national and global levels, nurses can influence laws, funding decisions, and healthcare policies to support marginalized groups and strengthen preparedness for future humanitarian issues.

Underpinning these roles is what some scholars call “humanitarian love”: a fundamental nursing value that encompasses compassion, empathy, altruism, and a commitment to human dignity. A systematic review found that when nurses embody humanitarian love—toward both patients and themselves—they experience less burnout and compassion fatigue, and are better able to maintain high-quality, person-centered care (Batiridou et al., 2025). Integrating humanitarian love into Values-Based Practice supports nursing resilience and improves patient satisfaction, trust, and therapeutic relationships (Batiridou et al., 2025; Webb, 2025).

Nurses' humanitarian efforts—evident in volunteer missions, crisis care, and everyday compassion—are closely linked to advocacy at both individual and systemic levels. Advocacy rooted in nursing ethics and humanitarian values helps shape policies that address social determinants of health, leading to measurable improvements in individual and community well-being. Additionally, when nurses internalize humanitarian love, they not only preserve the moral core of their profession but also build resilience and achieve better health outcomes for those they serve. By combining clinical expertise with compassion and cultural awareness, nurses not only heal but also empower global communities. In this issue of OJIN, authors describe how nurses go beyond the bedside, beyond their communities, and across borders to improve care for everyone.

Topic Articles:

Nurses and Advanced Practice Providers in Global Health: An Untapped Potential byRebecca Silvers and Maddie Wong demonstrates how nurses and advanced practice providers are an underutilized resource in global health. They identified factors that help and hinder U.S. nurses from participating in humanitarian work worldwide. Consequently, they developed opportunities for nurses to get involved in global health projects.

The Call of Caring: Community Mental Health Nursing as Humanitarian Practice byJames K. Tudhope discusses how mental health advocacy and educating future generations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners serve as a community-based humanitarian effort. He emphasizes how fellowships can influence care for this vulnerable group and enhance patient and community collaborations. This article shows how educators and clinicians can work together to improve patient outcomes.

Lead with C.A.R.E. and Jedi Wisdom: Silence Injustice, Nurses Will—With Purpose and Power by Shelitha R. Campbell, Rodney B. Campbell, Carmen Ward-Sullivan, introduces the C.A.R.E. model, a framework that offers empowering strategies for providers to tackle health inequity, even as messaging around diversity and health equity evolves. The article details how providers can support their patients while keeping the topic relevant through comparisons to a pop culture icon.

The Nursing Sphere of Influence: Advocacy as a Humanitarian Effort byMolly McCullough, Ayomidamope (Ayo) Adebiyi, Danielle Fox, Portia Toon, and Emily Woolsey explores the expanding role of nurses as advocates beyond traditional clinical settings, emphasizing their unique position as trusted professionals to influence health equity, policy, and community well-being. Drawing on the American Nurses Association’s definition of advocacy, the authors highlight how nurses can leverage their expertise in diverse environments—from schools and neighborhoods to policy arenas—to address systemic inequities and social determinants of health.

Improving Guyanese Healthcare through Safe Anesthesia Services by Robin Birchenough, Wendy Hoersting, Zoya Nikolenko, Alison Ohliger, Beimal Yazdanparast, and Hallie Evans, describes the collaborative efforts between Georgetown School of Nursing and Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia in Guyana. This partnership aimed to improve healthcare access by increasing the number of nurses who may become Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists in Guyana. Through surveys and small group discussions, Guianan nurses were able to share some of the barriers to career advancement.

Author

Molly McCullough, MSN, BA, RN, NE-BC, CNDLTC
Email: mamcculloughrn@gmail.com

Molly McCullough, MSN, BA, RN, NE-BC, CNDLTC, is the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association treasurer and serves on the government affairs committee. Ms. McCullough is also a trustee for the Nursing Foundation of Pennsylvania. While completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Johns Hopkins, Ms. McCullough teaches at Duquesne University. Ms. McCullough has served as a street medic and is a trained legal observer.