Source: Historic UK
And what nursing has to do in either case, is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820. She was named after the place where she was born, Florence, Italy. She was interested in mathematics when she was very young. She had passion for nursing and read a lot about hospitals and health, because she wanted to help other people in the society; Her parents concerned, but she eventually persuaded them and took a three months’ nursing training in a hospital and school in Dusseldorf.
The Crimean War
She was invited by the Minister of War, to be in charge of the female nurses in the military hospital in Turkey. After she arrived, she found that wounded and dying men were sleeping in overcrowded, dirty rooms often without blankets. These conditions meant that they often caught multiple diseases including typhus, cholera and dysentery. Often more men died from these diseases than from their original injuries. She then organised the hospitals to improve supplies of food, bedcovers and ward beds, as well as the general conditions and cleanliness.
The impact Nightingale had was remarkable. The death rate was significantly reduced because of the hygiene precautions which became common practice in the hospital where she was. Her checking all was well at night earned her the nickname ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ and respect of the British soldiers.
An extract from the ‘Report upon the state of the hospitals of the British Army in the Crimea and Scutari’, 1855
Later she focused on the British army in India. She demonstrated that bad drainage, contaminated water, overcrowding and poor ventilation were associated with high death rate. Moreover, she concluded that the army and the people of India had to go hand in hand and so campaigned to improve the sanitary conditions of the country as a whole.
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Acknowledgements:
1. https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/florence-nightingale-biography/
2. https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/florence-nightingale-1
3. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Florence-Nightingale/
4. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/florence-nightingale/
