Who: Florence Nightingale
What: Florence is known as ‘The Angel of Crimea’ and the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ . She was the founder of modern nursing reason and had the leading role in improving health practices. Her most important achievements include: pioneering in nursing and the reform of hospitals.
When: November 1854-1856
Florence Nightingale's role in shaping modern medicine came to life in November 1854 when she arrived to Scutari, Turkey (what is now Uskudar in Istanbul) to treat inured soldiers.
Where: Scutari, Turkey
Why: During the Crimean war, Florence urged doctors and nurses to practice better hygiene when dealing with patients. Thanks to her efforts doctors began washing their hands before and after dealing with wounded soldiers. A report advising where the medical facilities had been built allowed for change to be made as well. Sure enough, the number of fatalities began to drop. Stephen Paget, an English surgeon, asserted that Nightingale reduced the death rate from 42% to 2% . For more information refer to: The Dictionary of National Biography.
Favorite Quotes:
1. "Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift – there is nothing small about it. "
2. "How very little can be done under the spirit of fear."
- Florence Nightingale
The Details:
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence,Tuscany, Italy on May 12, 1820 into a British family, described as wealthy and well-connected. A short time after she was born, her family moved back to England, where she was raised. With time, she grew into a beautiful, slim and poised young lady.
Throughout her journey she met many individuals who influenced her philosophy or helped her facilitate her work and aspirations; to name a few: Mary Clarke, Sidney Herbert, Charles and Selina Bracebridge, and Benjamin Jowett.
In her early years, Florence came to a decision to become a nurse. Her family was strongly opposed to the idea. Nursing careers were thought to be for poor women with no social influence. Once her father realized she would not be changing her mind, he allowed for her to study in Germany. Florence devoted her life to service others. She could be thanked for saving the lives of many wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.
During the Crimean War, more soldiers were dying from infections than from battle injuries. This was also the first time women were allowed to serve in the army, as you can imagine they faced many challenges. Thanks to her close relationship with Herbert, she was appointed as the head of the staff of 38 volunteer nurses that arrived in Crimea in October 1854.
She and the team of nurses greatly improved the unsanitary conditions at a British hospital, by working night and day to reduce the death count. Other issues included short supply of medicine and no equipment to process food for the patients. They cleaned the hospitals, and ensured soldiers were properly fed and clothed.
Unfortunately the soldiers' death toll still rose. As many as 4000 patients died in one winter. Nightingale sent a plea to the government, for it to become involved in a solution to improve the poor condition of the facility. In 1855, the British government sent out a Sanitary Commission to investigate the conditions at Scutari and why the deaths continued to increase. The investigation led to the discovery of Barrack Hospital being built on a sewer. That meant that patients were drinking contaminated water. The hospital, along with other British army hospitals, was flushed out and ventilation improved- the death rate fell.
Inevitably, Florence Nightingale's work began to gain fame with the press and the public. A portrait of Florence carrying a lamp and tending to patients (hence the nickname "Lady with the Lamp" and "The Angel of Crimea") appeared and poems were posted to Florence. It went as fa as images of 'the lady with the lamp' being printed on bags, mats and souvenirs.
In 1856 her work in Crime was done, and even though she returned home a heroine, she kept a low profile by travelling under a pseudonym – Miss Smith.
Later on, Queen Victoria which was one of her biggest fans, rewarded Nightingale’s work by presenting her with an engraved brooch and a $250,000 prize. She invested the money in building the St. Thomas’ Hospital which included the Nightingale Training School for Nurses.
With the Queen's help, she was also able to persuade the government to set up a Royal Commission into the health of the army. "Leading statistician William Farr and John Sutherland of the Sanitary Commission helped her analyze enormous amounts of complex army data. The data reflected that 16,000 of the 18,000 deaths were not due to battle wounds but to preventable diseases, spread by poor sanitation."
Florence was sharp and knew it would take more than her talent for statistics to ensure her report made an impact. She used a rose diagram (see below) to effectively communicate the Causes of Mortality and show the sharp decrease in fatalities following the work of the Sanitary Commission, falling by 99% in a single year.
Thanks to the clarity and simplicity of the diagram, it was so easy to understand it was widely republished and the public understood the army’s failings and the urgent need for change. In light of Florence’s work, new army medical, sanitary science and statistics departments were established to improve healthcare. No small achievement there.
In 1859 she published her most famous books – Notes on Nursing and Notes on Hospitals (aimed to educate people about ways to care for sick relatives and neighbors )– and, the next year, a nursing school was founded in her name. She continued to work over the following decades which "helped to establish nursing as a respectable career for women, and improved hospitals so they became clean, spacious places for patients to recover."
As for her health, some say she had contracted chronic brucellosis (a bacterial infection causing fever, depression and extreme pain) during her time in Crimea. Despite her failing health, she continued to fight on to improve British healthcare by poring over statistical data from her sickbed. We can say that this was start of the idea of healthcare for everyone.
Although Nightingale was very frail and ill, she could afford to pay for private healthcare. This touched her, because she knew most people in Victorian Britain couldn't do the same. In effort to help the very poorest in society, she sent trained nurses into workhouses to help treat those in need. "This attempt to make medical care readily available to everyone, regardless of their class or income, served as an early precursor to the National Health Service."
Florence died peacefully in her sleep in London, England on August 13, 1910. She was 90 at the time of death.
Florence Nightingale at an old age. (Image below)
Information Sources:
Images rendered from the following sites:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Florence_Nightingale_%28H_Hering_NPG_x82368%29.jpg/220px-Florence_Nightingale_%28H_Hering_NPG_x82368%29.jpg
https://www.datix.co.uk/en/blog/florence-nightingale-authentic-leadership