Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was a British nurse, social reformer, and statistician who is also credited as the founder of modern nursing. She was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy where her parents were vacationing. The second daughter to William and Frances Nightingale, Florence was raised in a wealthy English family with many social ties to other British elites of that time. Contrary to the role expected of affluent females of the Victorian Era, Florence wished to become a nurse after feeling a “call” to serve the poor and sick. Her parents initially refused, since nursing was considered a lower class profession, but eventually, her father allowed her to receive nursing training at a hospital in Germany. Following additional training in France, Florence returned to England to become the superintendent of a hospital for “gentlewomen'' in London.

Florence became a national hero upon returning from the Crimean War in 1856 where she and a team of nurses drastically improved the conditions of British army hospitals and the care of injured soldiers. When Florence arrived at the Barrack Hospital at the end of 1854, many more soldiers were dying of infectious diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, than their injuries from battle. With the help of a sanitary commission sent by the British government, Florence and her team lowered the death rate of hospitalized soldiers by providing clean water, promoting frequent hand washing, and establishing appropriate sanitation measures. The nurses also gave individual care to the soldiers, and Florence Nightingale was known to carry a lamp and walk through the wards at night, providing comfort to soldiers. This compassionate action, deeply appreciated by the soldiers, earned Florence Nightingale her famous nickname, “Lady with the Lamp.”

Through her work during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was able to show that access to clean water, sanitation measures, and a healthy diet improved the health of wounded soldiers and reduced the death rate due to preventable infectious diseases. Nightingale continued to advocate for the health of the military by presenting her findings to Queen Victoria in 1856, which led to the creation of a Royal Commission that implemented many improvements across the British military medical system. Today’s basic infection control practices and evidence-based practices aimed at reducing nosocomial infections can trace many of its beginnings to the methods used by Florence.

Through her leadership and example, Florence helped transform nursing into an honorable profession. Using funds raised through donations, Florence opened the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital in London in 1860 to train more nurses. Modern nursing science can trace its roots to the legacy of hygienic standards, injury treatment, and health promotion Florence Nightingale developed and taught. 

The current model of nursing care as a holistic, individual-centered approach can also be attributed to Florence Nightingale’s influence. Her strongly-held principle that each person deserves to be cared for and treated with dignity and respect regardless of their social class, occupation, or condition remains important throughout the nursing profession today. Florence's method of assessing each person’s injuries or illness within their individual context and developing a plan to help them heal is seen in today’s nursing process of assessing, creating nursing diagnoses, planning and implementing interventions, and evaluating the results.

Florence Nightingale developed a set of guidelines for healing she called the “Health of Houses,” which is an environmental theory describing five important factors that can be improved in order to promote health and healing. The five factors are pure air, pure water, efficient drainage (sanitation), cleanliness, and light. This theory is a holistic approach that takes into account not just the individual but also how their surroundings can affect their course of illness or maintenance of wellness. This theory was novel in Florence’s era, and she described it in two of her books, Notes on Hospitals (1859) and Notes on Nursing (1860) that are still being published today. In these publications, she lays out hygiene standards and the necessity for fresh air, nutritious diet, and adequate sleep and exercise. She intended this information not only for hospitals and nurses but also for use by the general public in their homes to promote public health. 

Today, Florence’s environmental theory remains relevant in the way that hospitals and other facilities are designed with the individuals who will be treated there in mind. These purpose-driven designs take into account safety measures and aesthetics. Additionally, the care management and planning that nurses undertake today to achieve positive outcomes reflect the individual-centered care that was at the heart of Florence Nightingale’s nursing care.