Quiz of the Day
Nursing & Healthcare Heroes
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
National Nurses Week begins — Florence Nightingale, medical breakthroughs
1. Who is known as the founder of modern nursing?
- Florence Nightingale
- Mary Seacole
- Dorothea Dix
- Clara Barton
Nightingale was also a pioneering statistician. She invented the polar area diagram (a type of pie chart) to show that most soldiers died from preventable diseases, not battle wounds — and used it to convince Parliament to reform army hospitals.
2. Which Jamaican nurse set up a hospital near the Crimean War front lines?
- Dorothea Orem
- Virginia Henderson
- Mary Seacole
- Edith Cavell
After being rejected by British authorities (likely due to racial prejudice), Seacole funded her own journey to Crimea and built the 'British Hotel' to treat wounded soldiers. She was voted the Greatest Black Briton in 2004.
3. What did Alexander Fleming accidentally discover in 1928?
- Vaccines
- Aspirin
- Penicillin
- Insulin
Fleming noticed that mould on a petri dish was killing surrounding bacteria. This accidental discovery led to antibiotics, which have saved an estimated 200 million lives. Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for the discovery.
4. How many nurses are there worldwide?
- About 7 million
- About 28 million
- About 14 million
- About 50 million
Nurses make up over 50% of the global healthcare workforce, yet the WHO estimates a global shortage of 5.9 million nurses. Without them, healthcare systems would completely collapse.
5. What is the Hippocratic Oath?
- A nursing qualification exam
- A type of medical treatment
- An ancient oath of medical ethics
- A hospital safety protocol
Written around 400 BC, the Hippocratic Oath includes the principle 'first, do no harm.' Modern versions have been updated, but the core principle of prioritising patient welfare remains. Not all medical schools still use it.
6. Who developed the first successful vaccine?
- Edward Jenner
- Jonas Salk
- Louis Pasteur
- Robert Koch
In 1796, Jenner inoculated a boy with cowpox material to protect against smallpox. The word 'vaccine' comes from 'vacca' (Latin for cow). His work eventually led to smallpox becoming the only human disease to be eradicated.
7. What was Florence Nightingale's nickname during the Crimean War?
- The Angel of Mercy
- The Crimean Angel
- The Lady with the Lamp
- The Nursing Pioneer
Nightingale earned the name by making nightly rounds checking on patients by lamplight. Under her care at Scutari Hospital, the death rate dropped from 42% to 2% through improved sanitation and hygiene.
8. Which nurse was executed by a German firing squad in WWI for helping Allied soldiers escape Belgium?
- Edith Cavell
- Vera Brittain
- Elsie Inglis
- Flora Sandes
Cavell helped about 200 Allied soldiers escape to neutral Holland. Before her execution on October 12, 1915, she said: 'Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.' Her death became a major recruiting tool for the Allies.
9. What medical breakthrough did Jonas Salk develop in 1955?
- The measles vaccine
- Insulin
- Blood transfusion
- The polio vaccine
Salk famously chose not to patent his vaccine, saying 'Could you patent the Sun?' This decision cost him an estimated $7 billion but made the vaccine affordable worldwide. Polio has been 99.9% eradicated.
10. What colour scrubs do nurses traditionally wear in the UK's NHS?
- Blue
- White
- Navy
- Green
NHS uniform colours indicate roles: dark blue for nurse managers, light blue for staff nurses, red for emergency staff. The switch from white to coloured uniforms happened partly because white showed stains too easily.
11. Who discovered the X-ray?
- Marie Curie
- Wilhelm Röntgen
- Thomas Edison
- Nikola Tesla
Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 and took the first medical X-ray — of his wife's hand. She reportedly said 'I have seen my death!' upon seeing her skeleton. Röntgen won the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
12. What is triage?
- A surgical technique
- A hospital department
- A type of bandage
- The process of sorting patients by severity of condition
Triage was developed by Napoleonic surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey during the Napoleonic Wars. He treated wounded soldiers based on urgency regardless of rank — revolutionary for the time. The word comes from the French 'trier' (to sort).
13. What was the first organ to be successfully transplanted from one human to another?
- Liver
- Heart
- Kidney
- Lung
The first successful kidney transplant was performed in 1954 between identical twins in Boston. The patient, Richard Herrick, lived for eight more years. Today, over 100,000 organ transplants are performed worldwide each year.
14. During the COVID-19 pandemic, what did people in the UK do every Thursday at 8 PM to honour healthcare workers?
- Sang songs
- Lit candles
- Flew flags
- Clapped from doorsteps
The 'Clap for Carers' campaign ran for 10 weeks from March 2020. While deeply emotional, some nurses found it bittersweet — many were working 12+ hour shifts in PPE with inadequate equipment while the public clapped.
15. Which organisation awards the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest distinction for nurses?
- International Red Cross
- International Council of Nurses
- World Health Organisation
- Royal College of Nursing
The Florence Nightingale Medal has been awarded biennially since 1920 to a maximum of 50 nurses worldwide. Recipients must have shown 'exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick, or disabled.' It's the nursing equivalent of a military honour.