Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy. She was the younger of two children. Her mother, Frances Nightingale, came from a family of merchants and associated herself with people of prominent social standing. She tried her best to influence Florence to become more social but did not succeed. She was the type of person who avoided being the center of attention whenever she could. Florence viewed her mom was very controlling and this caused a strain in their relationship. Her father, William Shore Nightingale, was a wealthy landowner who inherited two estates when Florence was five years old. She was raised on one of those estates where her father provided her with an education. From a young age Florence showed an interest in philanthropy. She ministered to the ill and poor people in the village close to her family’s estate.
At the age of sixteen Florence was clear that her calling was Nursing, that it was her divine purpose. When she approached her parents about her career plan they were not pleased, they forbade her to pursue it. During the Victorian Era, a young woman of Nightingale’s social stature was expected to marry a man that could take good care of her, enough that she would not have to work. Florence did not want an ‘expected’ life; in fact she was against marriage. At the age of 17, she refused a marriage proposal from a gentleman that met the criteria. She was then given the chance to marry again at the age of 22, but after making up her mind for seven years she again said no.
The Essay on Lytton Strachey’s excerpt on Florence Nightingale
Lytton Strachey’s excerpt depicts the popular misconceptions and the actual reality of who Florence Nightingale was. Strachey’s euphemism of calling Nightingale “the Lady with the Lamp” as opposed to the “agitations of her soul” portrays the idea that her reality was much more different than her false perceptions. Though he admires Nightingale with awe, he ...
Despite her parents’ objections, Florence enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany in 1844. Although the conditions of hospitals during that time were poor, she was determined to make things better. In the early 1850’s after completed nursing school, Nightingale returned to London where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex hospital for ailing governesses. Being of her dedication to the job, her employer promoted her to superintendent after a year. Being a superintendent was very challenging position but she made it her mission to improve the conditions of the hospital and lower the death rates as well. Because of the heavy work load, her health was badly affected.
In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The British and Russian Empire was at war for control of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of soldiers were sent to the Black Sea. By 1854, less than 18,000 soldiers had been admitted into military hospitals. At the time, there were no female nurses stationed at hospitals in the Crimea. The poor reputation of past female nurses had led the war office to avoid hiring more. In the autumn of 1854, Nightingale received a letter from Secretary of War Sidney Herbert, asking her to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers in the Crimea. She quickly assembled a team of 34 nurses from a variety of religious orders, and sailed with them to the Crimea just a few days later. The hospital was a crumbling old building. She arrived with her nurses to find the place crammed with men recently wounded in battle. Many were lying on the bloodstained floors because there were not enough beds. There was a shortage of everything including bandages, medicine, blankets, even soap and the wards were rat-infested. Once again Florence Nightingale could make good use of her administrative talents.
The Essay on The Nurse Staffing Standards For Patient Safety
I. Introduction II. Bill overview A. Introduced in 2011 1. Representative of Illinois 2. Jan Schakowsky B. Addresses nurse-to-patient staffing ratios 1. Department of Health and Human Services 2. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission III. Advocates for the bill A. United Nurses of America and National Nurses United B. American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of Teacher C. ...
Together with her team she set to work. Her nurses scrubbed the wards, corridors and lavatories. She reorganized the kitchens and set up a laundry. For months she worked up to twenty hours a day, ending each day by visiting the wounded soldiers, carrying a lamp in her hand. She achieved something very close to a miracle. Within six months the death rate among her patients had fallen from 420 in every thousand to only 22. In addition to vastly improving the sanitary conditions of the hospital, Nightingale created a number of patient services that contributed to improving the quality of their hospital stay. She created an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food was prepared for patients with special dietary requirements. She also established a laundry room so that patients would have clean linens. She also instituted a classroom and a library, for the patients’ intellectual motivation and entertainment.
Florence Nightingale became one of the most admired and respected women of her time. Queen Victoria offered her a reward for the work she had done. Instead Florence Nightingale asked people to give money to set up schools to train nurses. In 1860 a nursing school was opened in London and similar training schools were soon set up in other places. The student nurses were carefully chosen. They had to be literate, honest, hardworking and willing to live under strict discipline. Even their personal diaries were regularly inspected to see how they were behaving themselves. Florence Nightingale opened up a whole new field of work for women. By 1900 Britain had 64,000 skilled nurses, ensuring that their hospitals were efficient and hygienic. Florence Nightingale lived to the age of 90 and died in 1910.
