The Preparation

Florence Nightingale was named after the city in Italy where she was born on May 12, 1820. She and an older sister grew up amidst the comfort and luxuries of a rich folk in England. Personally tutored by her father, Florence became well-versed in languages, philosophy and liberal arts. She was described as highly intelligent and passionately intense even at an early age. At age 16, she was presented to the society and to a life of parties and travel. She refused two marriage proposals, to the dismay of her family and friends. Florence wrote of February 7, as the turning point in her life, when she felt that "God has called her to His service." She became acutely conscious of the contrast between the frivolous life her social set demanded of her, and the poverty and suffering around her. Visiting cottages on her family estate she brought food and medicine to the neighboring poor people. Her parents were shocked and angry when she proposed going to an infirmary for training. At that time hospitals were places of filth and degradation, and nurses usually drank heavily to dull their senses. The hospital is no place for a gentlewoman!

Unable to go for training, Florence resorted to studies on her own. With her retentive memory and methodical studies, Florence acquired information on a variety of subjects. She procured various reports on national health conditions, and various medical and sanitary subjects. Acquiring distinguished circle of friends during her travels, she learned about the art, architecture, laws, land systems, and social conditions of the places she visited. At the age of 31, Florence spent three months at the Institution of Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth and learned about education of the young, care of the sick, district visiting, rescue and reformatory work. Later, she spent time with the Sisters of Charity in France, inspecting hospitals, infirmaries and religious houses. Back in England, she became the Superintendent of an "Establishment for Gentlewomen During Illness"- a treatment home for sick governesses and other poor gentlewomen. Though this office did not satisfy her desire to serve the poorest, it was a compromise for the sake of her family's feelings.

The Mission

The Crimean War in 1854-1856 brought into the limelight the disgraceful conditions of the English military hospitals. Florence became the Superintendent of the female Nursing Establishment of the English General Hospitals in Turkey. A novel position then because employment of woman nurses in the military and the appointment of a woman in any position of public responsibility was unheard of at that time. Florence's personal qualities, knowledge of administration, rank and position in society were advantages she possesed. With a hastily gathered group of woman nurses including 10 Catholic sisters and 8 Anglican sisters, Florence went on a mission and fate that were both experimental and unprecedented. The military hospitals greeted them with a pathetic picture of overcrowding, filth, scarce water, moldy food, no sanitary facilities, no bed sheets, and no medical supplies. But within six months , she brought about major changes that reduced mortality rate in the hospitals by half. She soon became known as "the lady with the lamp" as she made midnight rounds to the soldiers carrying her light. With her meticulous reports and data collection, she argued the need for more emphasis on the study of preventive medicine, a pioneer idea at that time.

After the war, Florence embarked on a crusade to change the problems that she encountered. She influenced changes in health legislation and administration, locally and in the colonies. She started the first organized training program for nurses, the "Nightingale Training School for Nurses" in London. Florence started providing nursing care for slum dwellers and workhouse inmates and called for legislation to provide separate facilities for children, the insane and those with communicable diseases. When the Franco-Prussian war broke, Florence worked with the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded, which was later called the British Red Cross Aid Society. In 1907, Edward VII bestowed on her the Order of Merit, the first time ever given to a woman. She died in her sleep on August 13, 1910 at the age of 90.

Florence Nightingale’s works continue to impact the nursing profession today. She initiated a frame of reference that focuses on the interdependence of the patient and the environment. Her post-war reforms, letters and writing, directs the nurse to act on behalf of the client, the advocacy role. She taught and used the nursing process, noting that data collection and observation (assessment) are vital to nursing practice and research. In her "Nurses Notes" (1860) she saw the role of nursing as having "charge of somebody’s health" based on the knowledge of "how to put the body in such a state to be free from disease or to recover from disease."

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