HARRISBURG (TNS) — Every year for the past two decades, nurses have ranked at the top of the Gallup Poll’s list of most trusted professions.

Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, nurses are getting more respect and appreciation than ever—from supervisors, first responders, and the general public. This respect has been a long time coming.

I recently saw on social media a meme of nurses depicted as joining the ranks of superheroes. We have been heroic every day — quietly, without asking for recognition. Our reward was our self-recognition of the good that we had done. The smiles on the faces of our patients and their families. Knowing that we had succeeded in teaching people to care for themselves. That knowledge was the prize.

Nurses have always provided healing measures: reducing fear, saving a life, teaching individuals and communities, and comforting the dying when nothing can be done. Still, the magnitude of a pandemic has put nurses’ dedication under a magnifying glass.

This grave pandemic has uncovered many simmering problems in the healthcare systems and is providing insight into American society and societal values.

Nurses continue to treat patients despite shortages of medical equipment, grueling hours, and, in many cases, lack of guidance. Not to mention that hospital staff are facing the surreal combination of unfairness, unpredictability and being utterly overwhelmed.

Nurses are working on the frontlines of the world’s coronavirus pandemic, risking their lives to help others in dire medical need. During this pandemic, the nursing shortage is so extreme that retired nurses are being called on to rejoin the workforce.

I ask myself: What has changed? How is it that nurses are reaching the ranks of superheroes only now? Rosy the Riveter was unrecognized for her contributions to the war efforts in her lifetime. Were nurses not recognized, until now, as heroes because we are primarily a female workforce? Were we only legitimized when male nurses joined our forces?

Consider the changes over the years that nursing has undergone. Nurses went from handmaiden to uniform changes. Think back on those white, uncomfortable uniforms with hats and hosiery. Fortunately, these are now swapped with the more practical scrubs.

This response is similar the Vietnam war era, when soldiers were not celebrated as heroes. Soldiers today, however, are (and rightly so) recognized in airports and parades with Welcome Home and Thank You for Your Service banners and signs.

This is much like what is happening, at last, in healthcare, and it is refreshing. Nurses today follow a well-worn path of those heroes before us. As well as those quasi-heroes who reaped the benefits of the education and skills true nurses have offered over the past 150 years.

Personally, as a nurse, I have experienced disrespect and undermining by coworkers. But my loyalty has always been with what is best for the patients. Now — more than ever — the public recognizes and values of the nurse’s commitment to empowering ordinary people to promote the best possible health outcomes.

Nursing education is based strongly in science, and it is highly specialized in improving the outcomes of individuals and populations. Our practice is evidenced-based and modeled on data. Equally so, our practice is an art form; the art of communication and the act of empowering people to be their best.

The choice to be a part of the solution is the backbone of every nurse with whom I have worked or had the privilege to teach.

(Nancy Mimm is an assistant professor of nursing population health at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.)