Florence Nightingale; nurse

Florence Nightingale. The woman who turned nursing into a real profession. Before her it was only "charity" to take care of sick and/or old people...

Who is Florence Nightingale

Florence was an English woman who was born in the Italian Florence on 12 May 1820. Florence Nightingale was a daughter from a well-off family. On her seventeenth birthday she heard the "voice of God", which asked her to serve. She, however, didn't know what he meant. She looked after her seriously ill grandmother when she was twenty-five, and later on her old nanny. Finally she found the answer to God's question: she wanted to nurse (against the will of her parents). She first acquired knowledge in hospitals in Germany and Paris. Florence collected a lot of data about death, illness and the quality of life in hospitals. She changed this data into statistics and charts which motivated her to battle the unhygienic circumstances. In 1851 Florence wrote down these experiences in a little book. In 1854 the Crimean War started, where Florence went to take care of the wounded. Her good work, before and during the war, called for a lot of admiration and gratitude, which translated into many financial donations. It annoyed her immensely that nurses, often "fallen" women, had little to no nursing experience and expertise. This pushed her to the following: she could use the donated money to continue improving the quality of nursing. In 1860 she erected the first official nursing school in London: the Nightingale Training School for Nurses, in the St. Thomas Hospital. In 1859 Florence wrote a guidebook, Notes on Nursing. Within a few years this had become the international guidebook for nursing. Florence Nightingale died at the respectable age of 90 years old.

Why Florence is so important for nursing

She became very important for nursing because she is the founder of modern nursing, after she wrote the book "Notes on Nursing" in 1859. This book contained principles of good nursing. During the Crimean War, Florence realised there's an interaction between humans and their environment (as to health and disease). She thought the work shouldn't only be focused on the caring, but that good conditions were very important. For example:

• fresh air,
• light,
• warmth,
• toilet training,
• rest,
• meticulousness,
• carefulness in the prescribed diet.

How did the paradigm look for Florence

Florence formulated the first nursing concept, in which her view on the following four subject areas was given, namely Human, Environment, Health and Nursing. Together, these four form a metaparadigm, although Florence has never used this term.

• Human. Florence Nightingale's view made it clear that nurses were there to treat the patients, not just the disease. Other than that she had a holistic view on humans: a patient consisted of biological, psychological, social and spiritual components.
• Environment. According to her view you had to set up the environment in such a way that nature could perform its healing effect. The most important elements of this were good ventilation, clean air and clean water. Warmth, rest, good light and a good waste-disposal were important as well.
• Health. According to Florence Nightingale's view health doesn't only mean you're not ill, but also that you're capable of utilising all your opportunities. This definition is the same as the current definition of the WHO.
• Nursing. The nurse's goal was to get the patient in the best condition to be able to let nature use its healing effect. She thought nurses should be people who had been trained for it especially. This viewpoint eventually led to the establishment of the first nursing school. Observation of the patient and documentation of the findings were very important.

Sources: www.todio.nl