Florence Nightingale

Paper Summary:

This paper provides an overview of Florence Nightingale and her nursing theories, followed by an assessment of their impact on the nursing profession today. The paper illustrates that Florence Nightingale's efforts on the field of battle during the Crimean War earned her the respect and funds she needed to pursue her goal of providing the nurses with formal professional training in their duties by qualified practitioners. The paper contends that her emphasis on providing compassionate medical services in as clean an environment as possible contributed to saving countless lives both during her lifetime and thereafter.

From the Paper:

"According to one of her many biographers, Florence Nightingale born in 1820 and died in 1910. During the Crimean War (1854-56), Nightingale was responsible for nursing in the military hospitals at Scutari, Turkey, where she struggled to meet the enormous challenges represented by overcrowded conditions, inadequate sanitation, and a lack of basic medical necessities (Underwood, 2005). The graphic at Appendix A helps to highlight the abysmal conditions Nightingale found on her arrival there. Based on her experiences on the field of battle, Nightingale recognized the need for a professional cadre of nurses. Armed with ?45,000 from the Nightingale Fund (contributed by the public in recognition of her Crimean work), she established the first school for nurses in the world, the Nightingale School for Nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital in London in 1860. Nightingale also played a key role in developing training programs for midwives and for nurses in workhouse infirmaries, and is credited with important reforms in workhouses (Underwood, 2005)."

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