Nursing is the largest and most trusted profession in America. Florence Nightingale was the first person to lay the foundations for nursing. Florence was a key figure in shaping modern nursing in many ways.
Florence is often called The Mother Of Nursing. But, her life was marked by other notable names like The Lady with the Lamp and The Angel from the Crimea.
Florence was born 1820 to a wealthy Italian family. Although she was raised in a wealthy family, she quickly realized that she did not want to follow the social patterns of other women in her society. Her father William Nightingale encouraged her intellectual curiosity and taught her languages, history, composition and statistics. Florence turned down a proposal by a suitably dressed gentleman. She decided to pursue her true calling of nursing and not marry, have children or do housework. Florence was 31 when her father made a lament and allowed her to study at the Lutheran Hospital of Fliedner, Kaiserworth. Because she was of lower social class, her parents discouraged her from becoming a nurse in Victorian times. Florence declined a Richard Milnes proposal to marry her when she was 17. She felt that he was too intellectual and romantically interested in Florence, but that her moral active nature required satisfaction and she wouldn’t find it in this world. Florence returned from her training to London where she became a nurse in hospital. She was promoted to supervisor in under a year because of her exceptional character and work ethic. Florence had to deal with unsanitary conditions, cholera outbreaks and a hostile work environment that allowed the disease to spread quickly. Florence set out to drastically improve these conditions and dramatically reduce the death rates. Sidney Herbert was the Secretary of war and called Florence to form a team to provide care for the injured and fallen soldiers in the Crimea War. Florence rose quickly to the occasion and organized a remarkable team of more than 30 nurses before sailing to Crimea. Florence quickly got to work on improving the hospital’s hygiene and recruited her staff, along with some of the most seriously injured patients, to clean the entire hospital. She then roamed through the halls throughout the night giving care to patients and earning the nickname “The Lady without the Lamp”. Florence also established many patient services, including a laundry area, classroom, library, kitchen and laundry. Florence’s hardwork and ingenious thinking was not lost on the queen. She was greeted home with an engraved brooch by her mother and money from their government. They used the money to further her cause for improving hospitals and care. She also established the St. Thomas’ Hospital as well as Nightingale Training School for Nurses.
Florence would have been so proud to see the fruits of all her hard labor and arbutus work. Florence was a model for patients and healthcare worldwide. Florence was more than a nurse. She was a policymaker, caregiver and scientist.
Comments are closed.