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Florence Nightingale and her contribution to nursing
Florence Nightingale and her contribution to nursing
Florence Nightingale and her contribution to nursing
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Florence Nightingale: A Grade A Bitch
Florence Nightingale paved the way for nursing as a respected profession. Although her legacy is somewhat debated, it is indisputable that without her, modern nursing would look significantly different than it does today. Miss Nightingale felt a calling to serve mankind through the medical profession.. Her family did not support her decision. Their hesitance stemmed from the fact that in Victorian England nurses were known to be drunks and engage in immoral behavior (Cohen, 1984, p.128). Despite her family’s opposition Florence persevered and, at the age of 33, she finally was able to properly begin her calling as a nurse. Her career advanced rapidly and she became a supervisor in her first few years
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129). She was able to provide hard evidence that major improvements needed to be made in health care practices throughout the world. Nightingale helped shape modern epidemiology with her meticulous record keeping. She provided care that extended past her patients and was able to affect the care of entire populations.
Florence Cares
Most of Florence’s work was on a broad population level, however, she very much was involved in direct patient care as well (Gill & Gill, 2005, p. 1803). In fact, her Aunt Mai Smith wrote a letter stating that the “happiest hours Nightingale spent were those spent with the patients”(Gill & Gill, 2005, p. 1803). There is also documentation that Nightingale was one of the few individuals that were allowed to do wound care in the army and that she would offer to personally take on patients that others avoided. (Gill & Gill, 2005, p. 1803). It was typical of her to go above and beyond to provide care to the soldiers. Often, she wrote
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for every two women who would die if delivered at home, fifteen must die if delivered in hospital. (Dunn, 1996, p. F219)
The meticulous detail that Nightingale put into her efforts for reform is evident when reviewing her written letters as well as her other memoirs. “Her approach involved clinical observation and examination of anecdotal case studies, as well as statistical analyses of pertinent numerical data and subsequent theory generation linking the various elements (Clements & Averill, 2006, p. 269).”
In particular, the use of Florence Nightingale’s theory of nursing as the basis of my new practice had allowed me to begin with the basics and work my way forward toward a more modern and holistic approach to nursing care. While Florence’s work focused mainly on the military and her care of soldiers, she began to establish schools of nursing to promote nursing education and to encourage people to view nursing as a viable profession, (Alligood, 2014. 63). Nightingale’s focus may have been care of the military, but she made great strides on getting recognition for nursing and her theories still affect the practice of nursing today. In the article, Nurses as Leaders, the author proposes that nurse leaders have made great strides since Nightingale’s time when nurses were conscripted to help care for wounded soldiers. Such a setting required these early nurse pioneers to rely on critical thinking and quick action in order to save lives. The author goes on to discuss how a change in nursing occurred in the early 20th century as new management styles emerged, most notable the “Scientific Management,” model. This style placed doctors at the top, then nurse managers, and on down to bedside care staff. Though this did allow some nurses the ability to move upward, nurses resented a doctor being in charge of their teams as the work of a physician and that of a nurse are two very different practices, ("Nurses as Leaders," 2016). This is quite different from the modern concept of a nurse executive as leader of
One of the many theorists that followed the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was Merle Mishel (Alligood, 2014). However, Florence Nightingale’s theory is different
Registered nurses work to contribute good health and prevent illness. They also treat patients and help go through there rehabilitation and also give support and advice to patients family. Registered nurses are general-duty nurses who focus in the achievement of caring for their patients. They are under the supervision of a doctor. As I researched this career It brought more questions to my life. It became a big interest that soon I would have an opportunity to answer my own questions obviously with the help of others.
When one thinks of the evolution of nursing, several noteworthy women come to mind, yet one stands out, Florence Nightingale. In Notes on Nursing, Nightingale says “…put the patient in the best conditions for nature to act upon him.” (1859, p.75) She established standards that reformed the industry. For example; her practices of sanitation and aseptic methods led to a decrease in hospital mortality rates. By keeping records of care given, techniques used and the outcomes; by utilizing these records, she implemented documentation and evidence-based practice. She started the ball rolling on the transition of nursing from a belittled trade to the profession it is now proclaimed to be. Nightingale, in conjunction with other
Florence Nightingale was the Nurse of Nurses. In nursing school she is the first person you will hear speak of. She is known as “The lady with the lamp”. Her theory focused on the adjustment of the environment provided to protect the patient. She thought that a sleeping patient should never be awaken. Noise should always be avoided because it can startle the sleeping patient. This was a serious problem to her. She delegated tasks to other nurses, always keeping the patients safe and away from harm.
Florence Nightingale is a very prominent person in the medical field. She had a strong desire to devote her life to helping others. She is known as the founder of modern medicine. The Nightingale Pledge is taken by new nurses and was named in her honor. The annual International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday. Without her contributions healthcare would not be what it is today.
In 1849 Florence went abroad to study the European hospital system. In 1853 she became the superintendent for the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London. In 1854 Florence raised the economic and productive aspect of women's status by volunteering to run all the nursing duties during the Crimean War. With her efforts the mortality rates of the sick and wounded soldiers was reduced. While being a nurse was her profession and what she was known for, she used statistics to achieve...
Before Nightingale, nurses were lower class citizens that were alcoholics or prostitutes with no to a little education. Florence Nightingale realized that nurses ought to have some education in caring for others and be of a higher class. In 1860, she opened the first nursing school in London that did not accept prostitutes and alcoholics. To signify Nightingale’s view of nursing, Lystra Gretter composed a Hippocratic Oath for nurses called the Nightingale pledge.
Her success in doing so was due to her concern with the sanitation of the hospital. When Nightingale arrived in Crimea on the British Base, Scutari, she was met with filthy floors, bugs, and rats under the beds (History.com, 2009). This is when Florence took action and began to sanitize and clean the hospital as best she could. In doing so she showed her problem solving characteristics. She also showed that she was a confident leader by getting these things done even if she had to argue with the military officers who considered her a nuisance (Fee, E.). Florence soon became known as “The Lady with the Lamp” or the “Angel of Crimea” (History.com, 2009). She was given these names because she spent every minute caring for her soldiers. She would make her rounds through the dark hallways in the evenings carrying her lamp (History.com, 2009). As the leader of her nurse corps Nightingale set the example that the patient should be first and she showed this through her actions and her compassion toward
Florence Nightingale, named after the city of Florence, was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820. She would pursue a career in nursing and later find herself studying data of the soldiers she so cringingly looking after. Born into the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale took the lead role amongst her and her colleges to improve the inhabitable hospitals all across Great Britten; reduce the death count by more than two-thirds. Her love for helping people didn’t go unnoticed and would continue to increase throughout her life. In 1860 she opened up the St. Tomas’ Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses before passing August 13, 1910 in London. Her willingness to care for her patients was never overlooked and wound establishing
Before the modernization and reform of their profession in the mid-1800s, nurses were believed to perform “women’s work”, which implied menial duties, unskilled service, and an overall lack of skill (Garey, "Sentimental women need not apply"). This mentality was substantiated by the “untrained attendants, [including] past patients, vagrants, and prostitutes,” that performed a variety of nursing tasks (Garey). Florence Nightingale’s nursing experiences during the Crimean War, her subsequent publication of Notes on Nursing, and her work to build up professionalism within the field transformed the way that the world and society viewed nursing. She introduced invigorating ideas of patient care, nursing roles and responsibilities, and was a strong proponent of nursing education. Nightingale’s overall work inspired and changed the profession of nursing, laying the foundation for its
Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in nursing and maintained it as an independent profession which was not secondary to the medical profession but equal. *Nightingale 1969 cited by Hoeve et al 2013
Sometimes in war a person can learn new things that can befit the world. Nightingale saw that most soldiers were dying from illness and not from there injures that they had received. ("Florence nightingale," 2011) She observed the environment that the patients were in, and notice that most of them did not have adequate nutrition, and their environment was not clean. ("Florence nightingale," 2011) The changes she made in the ward included a better nutrition and a sanitary environment these changes greatly decreased the mortality rate which was at a 42% then drop to 2% ("Florence nightingale," 2011) Nightingale believed that a patient environment affected the healing process for the patient. Nightingale states, “Nursing out to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and then proper selection and administration of diet.” (Alligod & Tomey, 2006) Nightingale created 13 canons, which revolves around nurse to critical think and how the nurse can change the environment. An example of one of her Canons is noise, states “asses the noise level in the client room and surrounding area. Attempt to keep noise level to a minimum.”(Alligod & Tomey, 2006)
The past practice and research are the foundations that provide and directs the care of the patient to necessitate recovery. Florence Nightingale’s scientific epidemiological research reduced mortality rates by as much as 71% in the Crimean War (Masters, 2014). Research in her practice to improve outcomes and decrease mortality is what we still strived for today.
The extract from General Sir John Burgoyne to Lord Raglan could be considered relatively limited in terms of identifying the impact Florence Nightingale had on medical care in Scutari. The source provides insight on the influence of Nightingale’s compassionate attitude. There is a brief comment on the mental state of those wounded in Scutari, who were noticeably appearing in a way that indicated “amendment rather than despondence”. This suggests that Nightingale’s presence and changes to the management greatly improved the wellbeing of the soldiers and the medical care they received.