Which symbol represents nursing?
Nursing has no single official symbol, so nurses use a few. The caduceus ☤, a winged staff with two snakes, is very common on nurse T-shirts, badges and mugs in the U.S. The Rod of Asclepius ⚕︎, a single snake on a staff, is the traditional symbol of medicine and the more accurate choice for health care.
The difference matters to some people: ☤ actually belongs to Hermes, the messenger god of trade, and its use for medicine spread in the U.S. after the Army adopted it in 1902. The medical symbol page explains the story in detail.
The nurse emoji and other nursing signs
Unicode has no separate nurse emoji. The health worker emoji 🧑⚕️, 👩⚕️ and 👨⚕️ are built from a person plus the ⚕︎ symbol, so they work for nurses as well as doctors. Pair them with 🩺 (stethoscope), 💉 (syringe), 💊 (pill), 🩹 (bandage) or 🌡︎ (thermometer).
The lamp is a classic symbol of nursing thanks to Florence Nightingale, "the Lady with the Lamp", who checked on wounded soldiers at night during the Crimean War. Some nursing schools still light lamps or candles at pinning ceremonies, and International Nurses Day is held on May 12, her birthday. The oil lamp emoji 🪔 is the closest match.
Ideas for nursing bios and cards
Add your credentials after a symbol, like 🩺 RN or ⚕︎ RN, BSN, in an Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn headline. For Nurses Week or a thank-you card, put ☤ or ❤️🩹 around a short message, such as ☤ Thank you, nurses ☤. More ideas are on the thank you symbol and heart symbol pages.
To type ☤ in Microsoft Word, enter 2624 and press Alt + X; for ⚕︎ use 2695. In HTML, write ☤ for ☤. On a phone, search "health worker" in the emoji keyboard for 🧑⚕️.