Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) was a famous nurse of Victorian era.
Despite the fact that she was born in the rich family, Florence went to work and at the same time train as a nurse at Salisbury Royal Infirmary. She soon became an expert on hygiene.
In 1859 Florence wrote a small book called ‘Notes on Nursing’, with a special section on taking care of babies. The book sells millions of copies all over the world. In 1860 she opened the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St Thomas Hospital in London. Florence almost single-handedly invents modern nursing, as we know it today.
3. Family
‣ Born in Florence, Italy
‣ Britishparents: William
and Frances Nightingale
‣ Older sister: Parthenope
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4. Education
‣ Educated by her father
‣ Liked algebra and
statistics
‣ Very religious
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5. Nursing studies
‣ Angered her parents
‣ Studied
in Egypt and
Germany
‣ Worked as
superintendent at the
Institution for the Care
of Sick Gentlewomen,
London
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6. Crimean war
‣A conflict between
Russia and British,
French, Ottoman alliance
‣ Foughtover control of
Crimean peninsula
‣ Allieswon, but
experienced a lot of
casualties
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8. Bad conditions
‣ 42out of 100 soldiers
died in hospital
‣ Bad sanitary caused
diseases like typhus,
typhoid, cholera and
dysentery
‣ Medicines were in short
supply, hygiene was
being neglected
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9. Improvements
‣ Arranged better
supplies of food and
medicine
‣ Sanitary conditions were
improved, and soldiers
received better care
‣ Death rate dropped to
only 2 persons out of
100
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10. The Lady with the Lamp
Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1857
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11. Later career
‣ Established
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing
and Midwifing
‣ Wrote a book “Notes on Nursing”
‣ Advocated for the improvement of care and conditions
in hospitals
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12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910\n\nFlorence is well known for her nursing work during the Crimean war. She laid the foundations of a professional nursing, and some ideas established over a hundred years ago are still in use nowadays.\n\n She was also a statistician and a writer. International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birth day.\n
Florence’s parents were rich, upper-class people.\n\nNightingale was named after the city where she was born - Florence.\n\nSimilarly, her sister has been named after her place of birth, Parthenopolis, a Greek settlement now part of the city of Naples. \n\n\n
Her father was well educated man, who studied in Cambridge.\n\nFlorence liked mathematics, and studied algebra and statistics. These studies helped her to collect statistics and prove that her nursing method was very effective.\n\nNightingale was a religious woman. After she experienced what she named a divine calling, Florence dedicated her whole life to helping others.\n
\nIn mid 19th century nursing was not considered to be a suitable profession for a well educated woman.\n\nDuring her studies, Florence traveled around Europe, and spend a lot of time studying in Egypt.\n\n\nEstablishment for Gentlewomen During Temporary Illness at 90 Harley Street, London. This institution later has been renamed to Florence Nightingale Hospital for Gentlewomen and moved to a new location - 19 Lisson Grove, London.\n\nSuperintendent - manager, administrator, supervisor.\n
Ottoman empire was very weak and unstable. Russia wanted to gain control over it, but British and French empires did not want to allow this.\n\nMost of the conflict took place on Crimean peninsula, but there were smaller outbreaks of war in Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, Pacific Ocean and the White Sea.\n\nTen times more soldiers died from illnesses such as typhus, typhoid, cholera and dysentery than from battle wounds.\n
Crimean peninsula is located in the south of Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It is now an autonomous republic of Crimea, but still belongs to Ukraine as autonomous unit.\n
Typhus - spread by body louse. Causes high temperature (39C), skin rash, muscle pain and delirium.\n\nTyphoid - transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Fever as high as 40C, delirium and diarrhoea, vomiting.\n\nCholera - an infection of the small intestine caused by bacteria. The main symptoms are profuse, watery diarrhoea, vomiting. Person can loose up to 20l of water per day, and dies if not treated.\n\nDysentery - inflammation of the intestine, especially colon. Symptoms are extreme diarrhoea, containing mucus, blood and feces. \n
On 21 October 1854 Florence and a staff of 38 voluntary nurses were sent to Crimea, Scutari. Soon after arrival she was ignored by the local medical staff (mostly men), but soon the conditions became so bad, and the situation got out of control, that she was asked to help.\n\nShe soon took over the control of nursing tasks, allowing doctors and surgeons to concentrate on more important tasks.\n
The Times wrote at the time:\n\n“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.”\n
Notes on Nursing also sold well to the general reading public and is considered a classic introduction to nursing. Nightingale spent the rest of her life promoting the establishment and development of the nursing profession and organising it into its modern form. \n\nIn the introduction to the 1974 edition, Joan Quixley of the Nightingale School of Nursing wrote: \n\n"The book was the first of its kind ever to be written. It appeared at a time when the simple rules of health were only beginning to be known, when its topics were of vital importance not only for the well-being and recovery of patients, when hospitals were riddled with infection, when nurses were still mainly regarded as ignorant, uneducated persons. The book has, inevitably, its place in the history of nursing, for it was written by the founder of modern nursing".\n
