Modern nurses are immensely admired in the current world. Even though the public trust and appreciation of nurses remains high over time, the types of care offered have changed. It requires one to look at the history of nursing to understand how far the field has evolved. For instance, nursing education has evolved in response to the transformative nature of the profession. Nursing has transformed from caretaking to decidedly clinical practice. The current nursing profession requires nurses to get certification after formal training. One known development in nursing and nursing education is attributed to Florence Nightingale’s efforts. Florence showed the value of female nurses and the need for sanitation in nursing. This paper discusses the biography of Florence Nightingale, her attributes and values, and her contributions to the nursing field.
Biography of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 in Florence, Italy, to William Shore Nightingale and Frances Nightingale. Nightingale came from a British family from an elite social class. Nightingale’s mother came from a family of merchants and socialized with individuals of higher social class. On the other hand, her father, William Shore Nightingale, was a rich landowner who inherited two estates; Hampshire, Embley Park, and the other in Lea Hurst, Derbyshire. Florence Nightingale grew up at Lea Hurst, where she was given a classical education: German, Italian, and French. She was also referred to as the “The Lady With the Lamp,” a British social reformer, nurse, and statistician (Dumitrascu et al., 2020). Florence has been active in philanthropy since she was very young. During that time, she ministered to the sick and poor individuals in the village neighbouring their homes. Florence Nightingale showed her ambition in nursing when she was 16 years old. Florence believed nursing to be her divine purpose.
Florence’s ambition of becoming a nurse did not please her parents. She was forbidden by her parents from pursuing nursing. This is because, during that era, a lady of Florence’s social class was required to get married and not do a job perceived by the upper social classes as lowly menial labour. Florence rejected a marriage proposal from Richard Monckton Milnes at the age of 17 years. Due to her determination to pursue nursing despite objections from her parents, Florence enrolled as a student in 1844 at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Germany to study nursing (Bradshaw, 2020). Florence Nightingale fell ill in August 1910 but showed signs of recovery. A week later, she developed various troubling symptoms on Friday, August 12, 1910. Florence died Saturday, August 13, 1910, in London.
Attributes and Values
The job is demanding, and it needs specific skills and the willingness of a nurse to develop and grow daily. The first attribute of Florence was self-awareness. Self-awareness is the highest form of awareness that involves reflecting on and contemplating an individual existence (Pfettscher, 2021). Florence’s writings are evidence to support the fact of her ability to recognize her emotions, moods, and drives. In addition, she was an adept and confident woman. Florence utilized the environment and her strong belief in god as a foundation to understand herself. According to her, nursing must focus on promoting health and prevention of diseases to fight unsanitary conditions rather than treating the diseases (Padilha, (2020). At the Scutari Barrack Hospital, Florence created the library for patients hoping to give the soldiers under her care something to do other than drink. This shows how Florence was aware of her environment. Even though Florence was ridiculed initially by the top military brass, they were surprised when her act of self-awareness and empathy achieved the desired outcome.
One of the values of Florence Nightingale is commitment. Florence had a mission and not a job. Throughout her work, Florence did not ask about the pay. For example, she did not ask about the salary and benefits before organizing a team of nurses to Crimea during the war. During that time, no female nurses worked at the Crimea hospitals. This was because of the deteriorated name of previous female nurses who made war offices to avoid recruiting female nurses (Loveday, 2020). Florence received a letter in late 1854 asking her to lead nurses treating sick and injured soldiers in Crimea. Due to her ambition for her calling, she quickly gathered 34 young nurses and sailed them to Crimea. Nightingale endured intolerable working conditions that would be unacceptable in the current world. Even though there were many injured soldiers and others dying from diseases such as cholera and typhoid, Florence never experienced burnout. She changed the world of healthcare through devotion and commitment to her calling. Nightingale could have decided to settle a comfortable life at the family’s country mansion; instead, Florence chose to care for others.
Contributions and Achievements
Florence Nightingale achieved many things during her years of work as a nurse. Nightingale established the foundation for elite British women to pursue nursing as a profession. During her period, society was cruel to women pursuing nursing. The considered nursing a low-class job where one required little knowledge and intelligence, and nurses were viewed as being little above prostitutes during the era (McDonald, 2020). She changed the notion of nursing and society’s perspective and offered a new meaning to nursing. To change this notion entirely, she used her finances to achieve her calling. Nightingale founded St. Thomas Hospital in 1860 and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses within the hospital (Matthews et al., 2020). Due to her efforts, nursing was no longer looked down at by people of upper-class stature; in fact, nursing came to be viewed as an honourable vocation.
Florence Nightingale has numerous contributions to the field of nursing. One of her contributions is her efforts to make hospitals cleaner and safer places to be. Arriving at Scutari, the British base hospital in Crimea, Florence found the hospital was in a horrid situation. The hospital was situated on top of a large cesspool that contaminated the hospital building and water. The hospital hallway was full of injured soldiers lying on stretchers on their excrement. Bugs and rodents run past the sick patients. Supplies such as soap and bandages increasingly grew limited as the number of sick and wounded increased every time. Even basic supplies such as water had to be restrained (Gallagher, 2020). More soldiers were succumbing to infectious illnesses such as cholera and typhoid than injuries incurred in the war. To change the environment, she asked soldiers to clean the inside of the healthcare facility. She would walk around in the dark hallway of the hospital, ministering to the sick and injured soldiers. Apart from improving the sanitary condition at the hospital, she established various patient services that improved the quality of their time at the healthcare facility (Glasper, 2020). For example, she created a kitchen where she appealed food for patients with special diet needs was prepared. In addition, she created a laundry to ensure the sick and the injured soldiers would have clean clothes. She also created a library and a classroom for patients’ entertainment and intellectual stimulation.
Reflection
The research on Florence Nightingale informs us of many things. Florence Nightingale portrayed many nursing qualities needed in the nursing practice as a role model. Some qualities are compassionate care, resilience, commitment to lobby, and courage to bring the needed change in health conditions for marginalized people (Bates and Memel 2021). For instance, Florence wrote letters to families of soldiers who had succumbed to the Crimea war. This informs student nurses about their profession and the circumstance they may be found themselves in as nurses. In addition, from the research, we can learn that nurses are diverse, requiring competence and confidence to advocate for care recipients and speak out about the patient’s needs, communities and families, and safety.
In summary, Nightingale’s history is helpful as it enables nurses to reflect on and compare the present and past nursing activities of Florence and other nurses of her time. Nurses and nursing have transformed since the era of Nightingale. Today, nurses are well educated in the science and art of nursing, independent, accountable, and still primarily women. The legacy of Florence informs nurses to sacrifice their life and care for the patient. Nightingale devoted her life to ensuring safe and compassionate treatment for suffering and poor individuals.
References
Bates, R., & Memel, J. G. (2021). Florence Nightingale and Responsibility for Healthcare in the Home. European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health, 1(aop), 1-26.
Bradshaw, N. A. (2020). Florence Nightingale (1820–1910): An unexpected master of data. Patterns, 1(2), 100036.
Dumitrascu, D. I., David, L., Dumitrascu, D. L., & Rogozea, L. (2020). Florence Nightingale bicentennial: 1820–2020. Her contributions to health care improvement. Medicine and Pharmacy Reports, 93(4), 428.
Gallagher, A. (2020). Learning from Florence Nightingale: a slow ethics approach to nursing during the pandemic. Nursing Inquiry, 27(3).
Glasper, E. A. (2020). Celebrating the Contribution of Florence Nightingale to Contemporary Nursing. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 43(4), 233-239.
Loveday, H. P. (2020). Revisiting Florence Nightingale: International year of the nurse and midwife 2020. Journal of Infection Prevention, 21(1), 4-6.
Matthews, J. H., Whitehead, P. B., Ward, C., Kyner, M., & Crowder, T. (2020). Florence Nightingale: visionary for the role of clinical nurse specialist. Online J Issues Nurs, 25(2).
McDonald, L. (2020). Florence Nightingale: The making of a hospital reformer. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 13(2), 25-31.
Padilha, M. I. (2020). From florence nightingale to the covid-19 pandemic: the legacy we want. Texto & Contexto-Enfermagem, 29.
Pfettscher, S. A. (2021). Florence Nightingale: modern nursing. Nursing Theorists and Their Work E-Book, 52.
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