Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. Her contributions and influence not only to the nursing profession, but to the public health care system, is unparalleled. She was instrumental in establishing multiple processes and practices that are still in current practice. She has influenced many nursing theorist and prevailing theories during her career. Many of her changes continue to influence theory development today.

Florence Nightingale was an immense impact on nursing, who “became famous for her revolutionary work as a nurse during the Crimean War” (Kent 30). “She dedicated her life to improving conditions in hospitals, beginning in an army hospital during the Crimean War,” (3 Registered). Her actions were then used by “concerned individuals, rather than by professionally trained nurses” during the Civil War, (Registered 279). Many of Nightingale’s ideas were brought into modern times, but with the improvement of technology and licensed nurses. With the influence and patience of Florence Nightingale, nursing has evolved into an outstanding career.

The incidence which is mostly remembered in reference to the services of Florence Nightingale is the leadership of Florence Nightingale after the war, after her death her biographers called her “lady with the lamp”. The readings on Florence Nightingale will depict that she was a great social activist. She was continuously involved in the services to help and nurture mankind. She possessed a heart of an angel. Nightingales activities were related to her belief that one should try to help humanity in order to be near to the God. She really loved her God and all her writings were related to this topic. As stated by Nightingale "It is not, God will not punish, we shall therefore not surely die. It is, God loves us, and therefore why will we die? One says that God is careless, the other that He is loving." In an unpublished sermon she insisted on God's "real personal interest in our welfare," not just His "mercy generally." It was hard to believe this, she acknowledged, "But if this belief once takes possession of our hearts, then are we redeemed indeed."

Florence Nightingale was an admirable leader because despite her gender she kept striving for what she wanted in a world ruled by men. She had determination, honesty, integrity, and respect from her peers. She fought diligently for women to receive an education and developed renowned ways of how to prevent and treat illnesses. She made improvements that benefited society, the population and as well as her peers. She was a leader that put others before herself and wanted equal success for all. She was committed to her mission and with that she showed that a nurse should have compassion. This relates to nursing being both an art and a science. She emphasized the need for empathy, as she believed that being empathetic could also help improve with recovery. Nightingale took initiative in the work she did and as a leader you need to take action and be proactive. An important contribution Nightingale made that has impacted our education and also improved the environment was her hadnwashing theory. She implemented hand hygiene and that helped prevent infection and illnesses. Florence Nightingale is an example of which nurses should follow. We must be leaders and take action. Nursing is not just a job, but it is a profession where you protect the rights of others and at the same time help people in their

“In these conditions, it was not surprising that in army hospitals, war wounds only accounted for one death in six. Diseases such as typhus, cholera, and dysentery were the main reasons why the death rate was so high amongst wounded soldiers” (Spartacus, 2011, ¶ 10). Nightingale went on to establish sanitary guidelines to improve nursing quality, statistical ways of obtaining data, and most importantly environmental factors to improve patient quality. What we know of Florence Nightingale is that although she was born into a wealthy family, she had a different drive in her life towards helping other humans. Nightingale demonstrated pure altruism, but why? What constitutes for her behaviors and traits, there must be a key to unlocking the personality development of Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale a systemic thinker and a “passionate statistician” (McDonald, 2001). According to McDonald (2001) Nightingales work in nursing and social reform was informed by religious faith or philosophy that favored a systemic approach. The goal of nursing has remained unchanged, since the time of Nightingales model, nursing is to provide a safe and caring environment that promotes patient health and well-being.

Nursing has evolved as a scientific discipline and is starting to emerge into professional status. One of the great leaders in nursing who helped this change take place was Florence Nightingale. Nightingale is considered as a pioneer in the nursing profession. She has contributed a lot in the field of nursing and her works are considered as assets, and will be remembered for many years.

Cherry and Jacob state that Nightingale “introduced principles of asepsis and infection control, a system for transcribing physician’s orders, and a procedure to maintain patient records” (Cherry & Jacob, 2014, p. 8). Florence Nightingale also established the first nursing school in 1860 at the St. Thomas’ Hospital of London (Cherry & Jacob, 2014). Not only is Nightingale the founder of professional nursing, she is also recognized for contributing to nursing research, involvement in political activism, and for her establishment to provide formal nursing education to pursing nurses (Cherry & Jacob, 2014).

Bisk(2016) claimed from the earliest times Florence Nightingale helped evolve the world of Nursing. Nightingale also set standards for the profession as the world knows it's today. She started her profession when she was just a child and began to care for the ill villagers around her family home. In 1854,Nightingale was asked to form a team of nurses to care for the sick or injured soldiers in Crimea. She also cared for patients all hours of the day at night using an oil lamp so she was able to see at night while attending to her patients. When Nightingale was done in Crimea she arrived at England she wrote notes on matters affecting health. The notes later helped reform several military

The present day originator of the nursing calling, Florence Nightingale perceived as ahead of schedule pioneer

A. Florence Nightingale’s advocacy for individuals started after her first nursing job as a superintendent in a hospital. The facility was in poor condition. She demonstrated advocacy for individuals by participating in “a healthcare situation under her control that allowed her to create and utilize environmental and patient care standards that were to become foundational to the development of modern nursing.” (Selanders & Crane, 2012).

Nightingale said, “The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm”. The history of nursing initially begins with Florence Nightingale. Before her era nurses had a tarnished reputation (Glasper, 2017). They were poorly educated and incompetent people. Nurses such as Mrs. Bedford Fenwick wanted to change the image of nursing. They did this by leading a campaign for professionalism. Which led to the culminated Nurse Bill receiving is royal assent in December 1919 (Glasper, 2017). July 27, 1921 was the official opening of the nursing register, there are currently 688,927 nurses registered with the Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) (Glasper, 2017). The NMC code has four themes of professionalism, “Prioritizing

Throughout Notes on Nursing, Florence Nightingale expresses the importance of proper care to patients. Another factor of nursing that was effected by Nightingale is the professionalism of nursing and how nursing is not only a science, but an art. Nightingale states how numerous subjects in nursing should be improved upon. The specific chapters that show how Nightingale has improved nursing within Notes on Nursing were Light, Personal Cleanliness, Chattering Hopes and Advices, and Ventilation and Warming. In chapter 9, Light, Florence Nightingale emphasizes the impact of sunlight on the patient and how it improves their health. Personal cleanliness was reviewed in chapter 11. Nightingale explores the importance cleanliness has on a patient. Within chapter 12, Nightingale states how to properly advise the sick, as well as give hope to patients. In chapter 1, Ventilation and Warming, Nightingale states the need for pure air within a patient’s room. These chapters express the importance of properly taking care of patients. The focus of this paper is how it was applied during Nightingale’s time and how it is still relevant today in nursing practice. The chapters within Notes on Nursing have had a profound impact on the practice of nursing today.

Florence Nightingale was a legend in her lifetime and was one of the greatest pioneer's in nursing. She lived ninety years and accomplished many great things for the field of nursing. Her descriptions of nursing, health, environment, and humankind are remarkable and still true to this day. Nightingale reformed nursing and changed the way nursing was viewed. Some of the issues during Nightingale's time, the 1800's, we still face today. Nightingale not only impacted nursing in the 1800's, but also still has an effect on nursing today. We do not need a new role model and icon for nursing because Nightingale changed the nursing profession for the better and that should never be forgotten.

Theory and practice are said to go hand in hand. Theory is shaped based on practice and insight, while it also gives shape and foundation to practice. Florence Nightingale is acknowledged as the founder of modern nursing and a theorist. She believed in the patient’s capacity for self-healing which is reinforced by the nurse’s ability to create an environment conducive to health (Smith &Parker, 2015, p. 50). Her philosophy of nursing is that one should put the patient in the best position for nature to act on him or her. This paper will identify the five essential components of her theory to draw out an appropriate plan of care for Mrs. Adams in the case study. In addition, discuss the applicability of Nightingale’s