Florence Nightingale. Student s Name. University Affiliation

Transcription

1 Florence Nightingale Student s Name University Affiliation

2 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 2 Florence Nightingale Born 12 th May year 1820, Florence Nightingale was globally renowned as a Social reformer of English descent and also worked as a statistician at the same time. She was celebrated as the founder of modern-day nursing and the prestige the field comes with. Florence became prominent during the Crimean War that took place in Crimea, where she served as a nurse and was keen on nursing scores of wounded soldiers who fought in that war. The events that unfolded after the nursing of the soldiers of the Crimean war made Florence Nightingale an epitome of reform and contribution to nursing as a career and the entire global society. Her vast achievements include the founding of professional nursing in 1860 after her efforts to establish a nursing school. The school was founded in the St. Thomas Hospital which is situated in London. At that moment, nursing was considered another dirty work and had no pay, few people did it and very few or no people knew the importance of nursing as a part of the medical field. With such notions, nursing was not a professional course and thus, the contribution of Florence came made a whole difference in the path of today s nursing. The nursing school based in St. Thomas became the first nursing school of secular fashion in the entire universe. Moreover, the school that was started in the 19 th century by Florence is currently part of the King s College in London.

3 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 3 The Nightingale Pledge that is usually taken by new workers joining the nursing force is a pledge that was named after her in honor of her contribution to professional nursing and her birthday, 12 th May has been designated as the International Nurses Day that is celebrated every year around the world. That aside, she has been hailed for her social reforms which include the act of improving overall healthcare in all the sections of the country of Britain and championing of the abolishment of certain laws such as the extremely harsh laws to women that were used in regulation of prostitution. Additionally, she has been regarded for advocating for the betterment of India s hunger relief and improving the healthcare conditions in the same country. Florence Nightingale adored the power of the pen and went on to become a versatile and prodigious writer who wrote some of her works in very simple English so as to be understood even by readers who have poor literary skills. She had extensive work on the subject of religion, which is used up to date by many Protestants. Her statistician achievement and contributions she made on Statistics cannot be left untouched. Nightingale was among the many statisticians who made the presentation of statistical data through graphical drawings as popular as they could get. She also stood for concerns on the levels of sanitation in hospitals, military health and the general panning of hospitals. These concerns were very influential and stood as a foundation to begin making amendments in hospitals. Florence Nightingale died August on the 13th, 1910 but left a legacy that still goes on strongly. This introductory part of Florence depicts in brief some

4 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 4 of her works, contributions and the general living which is worth learning from due to the positivity and the proper effects it brought to Britain, India and the whole world. The descriptive part of Nightingale encompasses on detail that gives a deeper knowledge and perspective of who she truly was and the beliefs she stood for that made her, the adoration to the entire human race and further resulting to the implementation of her views and beliefs. The early life of Florence Nightingale is depicted in a Victorian Web article by Marjie (2012) that reveals she was born at the Villa La Columbaia, a section situated in the city of Florence. This is also the apparent reason why she was named Florence, to reveal her birth in the city of Florence (Marjie, 2012). According to BBC (n.d.) under their history section, her wealthy parents were on a European trip and had travelled to Florence where she was born. Florence had an older sister called Frances Parthenope, who had also been named under similar circumstances and whose name had a word Parthenopolis, that is currently a Greek settlement in the city of Naples. In 1821 and at a very tender age of 1, Florence s family moved back to England where she was brought up at their home at their two homes, Embley, which is currently Embley Park and also at Lea Hurst (Nightingale and Lynn, 2010). Born to William Edward and Frances Nightingale Smith, she was born in an entirely wealthy family. William s mother Mary Evans had written a will that entrusted her Derbyshire estate at Lea Hurst to his son William. Her mother was the niece of Peter Nightingale, thus a proper reason why William assumed the arms and name of Nightingale.

5 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 5 Florence s grandfather, on the side of her mother Frances was a renowned abolitionist and a Unitarian. Florence was mostly educated by her father through her life (Nightingale and Lynn, 2010). At Embley Park, Florence had her first Godly experience that she referred to as calls from God in the year 1837 of the month of February. This occurrence at the Park prompted her to devote her remaining life to serving others, a statement that agrees with her volunteering as a nurse thereafter. In the days of her youth, she faced opposition of becoming a nurse, which she was respectful of, from her family. According to the article of BBC (n.d.) posted under the history section, she started developing interest in the field of nursing but her parents believed it wasn t an appropriate profession for a lady of her social caliber. They preferred she would settle down in a good marriage and concentrate on living an upper class life (BBC, n.d.). The Nightingale family headed by his father William would not allow her to practice nursing. The revelation to her parents of her desire to venture into nursing as a profession was in Florence s mother was very angry and completely distressed with her professional decision but she nonetheless rebelled on a decision of becoming a mother and settling on being a wife. Florence trudged on and worked tirelessly to inform, educate and understand concepts of art and nursing. She did not want to live up to the regular code and expectation of her family and

6 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 6 society of becoming a wife and mother for the rest of her life as expected during olden times for any affluent English individual of female gender. Although she was entirely graceful, slender, attractive, charming and posed a radiant smile, she did not give in to suitors who included Richard Monckton Milnes, a baron of Houghton who was also a poet and a politician. They had a lengthy courtship of nine years but she refused to get married afterwards since she believed that her calling in nursing would be interfered by marriage. In the year 1847 while in Rome, she came across a politician named Sidney Herbert who was at that time the former secretary at war. They struck a friendship which made them a couple of lifelong friends. It is through her friendship with Herbert that Florence started her work in Crimea, facilitated by Herbert and his wife. This happened at a time when Herbert became the Secretary of War of the ongoing Crimean War. Research on the works of Nightingale and Lynn (2010) reveals that Florence earned a pivotal role of being Herbert s key political adviser. Through her relations with Herbert, she began pressing reforms on the nursing area, a move many criticized at that time to be the reason for the death of Herbert in 1861 who was also suffering from Bright s disease. The proof people yielded on that accusation was the pressure she kept on Herbert to instill her nursing reforms on Crimea. Sources indicate that much later after Herbert s death, Nightingale also had deep relations with a man called Benjamin Jowett, who at some point may have wanted to tie a knot with

7 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 7 Florence. Florence however didn t get married to Benjamin and moved on to continue traveling together with her two companions, Charles and Selina Bracebridge. They went to distant lands such as Egypt and Greece. While travelling to various parts of Egypt via the Nile, she wrote about Egypt and what she had learnt in Egypt. This became a clear proof of her liking of literary works, philosophy of life and having a positive trait of learning more than she knew. Apart from the previous writing she made while sailing on the River Nile at a place called Abu Simbel, she wrote about being called to God at Thebes. Similarly, in the capital Cairo, Florence wrote in her diary about being called by God in the morning hours and that God had asked her if she would do good deeds for him and not for her own reputation. This point seemed to be her religious call and in that respect, Florence Nightingale made a visit to the religious community of Lutheran in Germany at a place called Kaiserswerth-am-Rhein. This trip took place in 1850, where she interacted with Theodor Fliedner who was the pastor and some other deaconesses. The church at Kaiserswerth-am-Rhein offered their services to those who were less privileged in the community including the deprived and the sick persons. With such an experience, Nightingale felt compelled to join pastor Fliedner and the deaconesses in curing and serving the sick. In this regard, she enrolled for medical training for four straight months. This period was of great importance to Nightingale since she wrote anonymously about her findings in 1851, which broke through to her literary achievements since it became her first published piece of writing.

8 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 8 The learning experience formed the basis for her complete professional nursing. The anonymous writing was referred to as The Institution of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, for the Practical Training of Deaconesses, etc. Nightingale s career in nursing prospered after approximately two years since her writing of her published writing. She earned the superintendent post while in Upper Harley Street, London at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen. This was August 22 nd, 1853 and the position was held until October the next year. A picture from Harley Street Guide (n.d.) which is based on the history of Harley Street in the UK, affirms this fact. Florence had been given an annual income by her father, which upon conversion to the present rate is about $65,000. With this amount of money, Florence was able to live and pursue her nursing career in the most comfortable manner. The annual income may indicate his family s affirmation to study nursing since BBC (n.d.) establishes that Nightingale s parents eventually relented Through her experience, working patiently and persistently to serve the human race, she was given a title The Lady with the Lamp. The title also demonstrated how she worked at night making her routine rounds while all the other medical officers were dead asleep. The lady with the lamp is clearly cited in a book by Cook (1913, p.237). Furthermore, the title has been used severally in other pieces of global writings including a poem and a report written by the Times.

9 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 9 A fund dubbed the Nightingale Fund on the 29 th day of November 1855 was unleashed. The fund was formed as a support tool to assist in the training of nurses. This took place in the Crimea at a public meeting in recognition of the good work that was done by Nightingale during the period of the Crimean war. Massive volumes of donations were given by various wealthy people and Sidney Herbert was appointed honorary secretary for the fund. The chairperson of the fund was the Cambridge s Duke. With this, Nightingale was not only marked a heroine but a pioneer in the medical field. Her letters of 1856 spoke vastly of the Ottoman Empire spas and spoke of the physical descriptions, type of diet given, conditions of health and other detailed information involving the patients who were treated there. Nightingale also considered how medical treatment was cheaper as compared to Switzerland. With the support of that factor, and the funds under the Nightingale Fund, she was sure to start up the Nightingale Training School for nurses at the hospital of St. Thomas. The nursing school was started on 9 July 1860 and the first lot of trained nurses began their practice on May the 16 th, They were posted at the Workhouse Infirmary of Liverpool and their prowess amazed many patients. The nursing school, part of the London s King s College is now called the F. N. School of Nursing and Midwifery. Nightingale did not stop there. Florence further championed for the raising of funds to aid the nursing services that were being offered in the Hospital of Royal Buckinghamshire located in Aylesbury. Her writing prowess went further on when she wrote the book called Notes on Nursing in the year The book was applied as a cornerstone of the training practices for nurses in her school, although its role was supposed to help nursing people

10 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 10 who were at their homes and could not access a hospital. This meant she wanted her practice to spread and help more than just people who appeared in hospitals, it presented itself like a do-ityourself manual. With reference to the Notes on Nursing book by Nightingale (1859), she clearly made a distinction between sanitary knowledge also called knowledge of nursing, and medical knowledge. Nightingale depicted that the former should be known by everyone as opposed to medical knowledge which can only be learnt as a profession (Nightingale, 1859). Her words echoed to many people involved with nursing sickly parties, not necessarily nurses and thus a proper conveyance of the importance of having better nursing techniques, since this was also one of the ingredients of making the sickly feel better and improve their health conditions. One signal accomplishments of Nightingale that will be felt for centuries to come was the introduction of trained nurses in Ireland and England. She made nursing a professional career that would in the long-run become a solution to many ailing individuals. With proper patient care through trained nursing, sickly individuals feel at home, get hopes of survival while their spirits are revived back to fighting for the purpose of living. Another literary work by Nightingale highlighted on the strict precautions that need to be undertaken in order to get rid of diseasecausing germs. Such precautionary aspect shuns any ideas of authors who depicted Nightingale as a professional nurse who denied the infection theory for her entire life. The same precautionary aspect remarked by Nightingale was used by nurses who took part in nursing individuals during the American Civil War. Her ideas further acted as an inspiration on the United States Sanitary Commission which were using her aspects with their volunteer

11 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 11 body. Linda Richards, a nurse who is considered to be the first trained nurse of America was mentored by Florence Nightingale and when Linda returned to the US, she had adequate knowledge and perfected training that helped her in establishing schools that offered quality nursing education. Linda also went further, as her mentor, to become a pioneering nurse in Japan and USA. The mentorship of Linda took place in 1870 s. Leading hospitals in the UK such as St. Mary s Hospital and Westminster Hospital were, by 1882, being led by nurses who went through Nightingale s hands of training. Her success could not be underestimated and her training works moved to parts of Australia and South Wales. Nightingale s exceptional contribution was awarded various awards such as the one ushered to her by Queen Victoria in Her award called the Royal Red Cross enabled her to get an LGSTJ award in the year The Order of Merit was awarded to Nightingale in 1907 and became the first woman to be awarded that award in the entire globe. Consequently, she was further awarded Honorary Freedom of the City of London in One aspect all nurses in the world never forget is her birthday, since it is the International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day. Nonetheless, the heroine in her suffered depression and was mostly bedridden from the year According to Bostridge (2008a), the reason for her conditions involved brucellosis and possible spondylitis. While this may be the medical explanation of her conditions, sources such as Hugh (1998) give a better explanation of her depression. Nightingale s discovery that she had gone wrong on the reasons for the increased high rate of death during the war is the reason for her depression and intermittent bedridden process (Hugh, 1998). One affiliation that has kept many

12 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 12 thinking she hated feminism was the fact that she always referred to herself as a masculine figure with words such as a man of action (Stark, 1979). This can be possibly explained by she preferred most than having friends who were women, the company of powerful men. However, she still went on to have proper relationships with some women who included Mary Clarke, an Englishwoman and Mary Clare Moore, an Irish nun she had met in Crimea and continued correspondence for a long time. The application of Florence Nightingale can further be noted in the legacy she left in the World. Apart from the training of nurses and bringing out the professional part out of it, she was entirely acknowledged in pioneering in graphical representation of statistics. Her work of literary aspects were a reason of empowering many women who later became nurses, while others opting to live a life of a nurse at home, looking after their sick relatives. A new purpose of life was created by what she did, and women felt motivated by the strength in her. It is also reviewed that Nightingale is a big reason for the study of parts of English feminism due to her non-feminist drive. She thus has had a major contribution to literature and other areas in studies such as Theology due to her staunch Christian principles and other curriculums. Her legacy lives on in plenty ways including in world s most renowned museums and monuments. Florence Nightingale s statue stands high in the city of London in Waterloo Place in Westminster. Derby has three statues of Florence. The Claydon House museum which was her sister s family home and Florence Nightingale Museum that reopened in May 2010 are examples of museums dedicated to her works.

13 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 13 Nightingale s fame doesn t stop here; she is remarked in audio pieces such as the phonograph, television through documentaries, theatricals such as The Lady with the Lamp, films, bibliographies, bank notes, photographs and feast days such as the one done by Anglican Communion. Apart from that, many hospitals in the world have been named after her including the likes of Florence Nightingale Hastanesi in Sisli and Metropolitan Florence Nightingale Hastanesi which are both situated in Turkey; she is still praised in distant lands. Additionally, through her training in the Nightingale School, many nurses were born from her and were spread over the entire England in various hospitals to teach other nurses the do s and the don ts involved in the nursing practice. Confirmed by BBC (n.d.), her works became very influential and formed the core of amendments in many hospitals allover England and the whole world. Conclusively, Florence Nightingale was the mother of modern nursing, contributed in arts and philosophy and made many other substantial contributions. Depicting Bostridge (2008b) in his book, an icon called Florence Nightingale was made and her words echo to this very day. References BBC (n.d.). Historic Figures. Retrieved from Bostridge, M. (2008a). Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend. London, England: Viking.

14 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 14 Bostridge, M. (2008b). Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon. London, England: Viking. Cook, E. (1913). The Life of Florence Nightingale, 1, 237. Harley Street Guide (n.d.). History of Harley Street. Retrieved from Hugh, (1998). Florence Nightingale: Avenging Angel. Russell Square, London: Constable & Robinson Ltd. Marjie, B. (2012). Florence Nightingale ( ). Retrieved from Nightingale, F. (1974). Notes on Nursing: What is and what it is not. Glasgow & London, England: Blackie & Son Ltd. Nightingale, F., & Lynn, M. (2010). An Introduction to Vol 14. Florence Nightingale: The Crimean War. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press. Stark, M. (1979). Florence Nightingale s Cassandra. New York, NY: The Feminist Press.