Florence Nightingale : An Influential Pioneer

Florence Nightingale was an English nurse whose efforts in the Crimean wars saved a lot of lives. She was a revered for her role in professionalizing the profession leading to many of the standards of nursing we know today (Gill & Gill, 2005). During the Crimean War, she led a team of nurses and it was the level of professionalism exhibited by her and her team that led to her fame. What was unique about her team is that she had personally trained most of them. Along with being a medical revolutionary she was also a firm feminist, she campaigned for more civil liberties for women. One of her main accomplishments as a feminist was the abolishment of laws that were too harsh on women especially

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy (MacQueen, 2007). She was raised in the Church of England to Unitarian parents. From early on, Nightingale searched for meaning in her life through her religion (McDonald, 2002a). From all accounts, Florence Nightingale’s passion to care began as a young child when she would visit the poor with her father. She continued these visits into young adulthood, helping the villagers however they might need. Nightingale had been educated entirely by her father while growing up. It was not until age 31 that Nightingale

She would go check on soldiers at all hours of the night going through the dark halls carrying a lamp. The soldiers eventually started giving her nicknames like “ The Lady with the Lamp” and “The Angel of the Crimean”. Florence advised the army on sanitary conditions in India during and after the Indian Mutiny in 1857. This led to the establishment of a Sanitary Department within the Indian government. Her reports and testimony to others on sanitary conditions of the army led to a lot of improvements that also led to opening an army medical college in 1861. Florence also intended to write a book to help others on practicing how to become a nurse and how nursing can be used in future preferences. Aside from all of that Florence helped establish many nursing organizations throughout her whole life. Doing what she did for others she won awards for the work that she did. In the 1870’s, she mentored Linda Richards, the first professionally trained American nurse, who established nurse training programs in the U.S. and Japan. In late 1954’s, Nightingale Received a letter from the secretary of War Sidney Herbert, asking for her to organize a corps of nurses to aid to the sick and fallen soldiers. She gathered 34 nurses and sailed with them to Crimea a few days after.

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12 1820. She was the younger of two children born into affluent British family. From a young age, Plorence Nightingale was in philanthropy, taking care of the ill and poor people. By the time she was 16 years old, she believed that her true calling was in nursing. Upon confronting her parents about her ambitions in becoming a nurse, they forbade her from doing so. In 1844, Nightingale proceeded to enroll herself as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserswerth, Germany. Therefore after completion nightingale returned to London, and after a year of being hired at Middlesex hospital became superintendant. She developed many techniques that brought down the death rate significantly during a cholera outbreak. In late 1854, Nightingale received a letter from Secretary of War Sidney Herbert, asking her to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers in the Crimea. Nightingale rose to her calling. She quickly assembled a team of 34 nurses from a variety of religious orders, and sailed with them to the Crimea just a few days later. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted by her endless supply of compassion, took to calling her "the Lady with the Lamp." Others simply called her "the Angel of the Crimea." Her work reduced the hospital’s death rate by two-thirds. While at Scutari, Nightingale had contracted "Crimean fever" and would never fully recover. In August 1910

More men started to become sick, their wounds were starting to get infected, and the doctors didn’t know what to do so they asked for Florence’s help. Florence bought supplies, beds, and blankets for the men. She cleaned the dirty floors and walls. Florence always offered care to anyone who needed it. In 1860, Florence wrote 2 important medical books. The first book is Notes on Hospitals which is about building clean hospitals. The second book is Notes on nursing which explains about diseases and proper nursing care. Florence believed nurses needed better training to work in hospitals. In 1860, she started a school called the Nightingale Training School. The students there learned about nursing. The students at the Nightingale school trained for 1 year. In 1861, she became very sick. People think that she had chronic fatigue syndrome. It gets caused by an infection or stress. Florence worked for 16-24 hours a day in the Crimean War and treated many infections. Even if Florence was sick she kept on working. She improved the conditions in British government’s hospitals. In 1861, the U.S army asked for her advice about adding an army

Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing (Smith & Parker, 2015). She was born in Italy, France and spent majority of her childhood years traveling the European countries with her family. Nightingales was open-minded, generous, and valued the life of others (Smith & Parker, 2015). She was a woman of strong faith who studied a variety of religions in search of the truth (Smith & Parker, 2015). It was her belief that helping the poor and sick was serving God’s purpose (Smith & Parker, 2015). Eventually, Nightingale concluded that nursing was her calling (Smith & Parker, 2015). After

In 1951 at the age of 31, Florence finally was able to leave her family to work in an orphanage hospital in Dusseldorf Germany. Florence then moved her work to another hospital Sisters of Mercy in St. Germain close to Paris France. In 1953 at age 33 Florence was working in London as the superintendent of “establishment for gentile-women during illness” (Cohen, 1984). This was the first supervisory role for Florence and the starting point of creating a nursing standard.

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy and was the second daughter to her parents. Growing up Nightingale believed that “she had a God-given purpose to better mankind, but the route to achieving this goal was unclear” (Selanders & Crane, 2012). Although Nightingale was born to an upper-class English family, she helped with assisting the poor and ill people. At the age of 16, Nightingale concluded that

Nightingale’s phenomenal nursing career truly began to arise during the Crimean War in turkey in October 1854 (Cook, 1913.) Nightingale was placed on a military post that was infested with pests (Cook, 1913.) It was Nightingale’s goal to improve the

At first, her parents refused to let her become a nurse because they said it was unsuitable for a woman of her education, but they eventually ceded. Nightingale went to Kiaserswerth and sustained a three-month training program. She later went on to be a nurse in the Crimean War where she began her reformation of the nursing profession (Holliday and Parker, 1997).

Florence Nightingale was born into a wealthy family in Florence Italy in 1820. During the 19 century the original role of women shifted due to the Industrial Revolution. Instead of working alongside their husbands on a farm, they stayed home while their husband went to work in order to watch over the servants while they completed domestic duties. Nightingale went against all of the norms of society in order to complete, what she believed to be, her God given calling of nursing. During the time, nursing was a degrading job that only poor people did. Nightingale went to school, rejected a marriage proposal, and worried her parents with her life decisions. Because of her dedication to her studies, she would have been considered a “blue stocking”, which had negative implications such as being unfeminine and having dried up ovaries.

Florence Nightingale has long been considered the mother of modern nursing. Despite the social barriers placed before women during the 1800s, something in Florence’s character allowed her to rise that few could have foreseen. Many influential figures in the past have pondered on the idea of ‘greatness.’ As Thomas Carlyle once stated, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” Clearly, Carlyle’s thought was narrow-minded, as the biography of Florence Nightingale shows that the history of the world also encompasses the formation of great women. Connecting some of the pivotal points in the life of this great woman will lend a fuller picture to our own history, as well as our own formation.

On May 12, 1820 Florence Nightingale was born to William Edward and Frances Nightingale. Florence lived a comfortable life and was well educated. She was never happy with the normal female skins but prefered to have discussions about politics and social discourse with her father. When she was sixteen she said she got a “calling from god” telling her to serve the sick and God; Florence thought nursing was the answer to that. Her parents and family didn’t believe that nursing was an inappropriate behavior for women. Despite her family’s ideas Florence was able to enroll in the institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany for a two week long training class. Through her family connections Florence landed a job working as superintendent of the Institution for Sick Gentlewomen. As superintendent Florence was able to showcase her skills and was then so recruited to gather a group of nurses to travel to Crimea to help in the hospitals on the military bases. Florence Nightingale embodied the qualities of the Grad at Grad because she had a strong work ethic, the ability to gain trust that facilitated the development of leadership and promoted justice.

Florence Nightingale was a legend in her lifetime and was one of the greatest pioneer's in nursing. She lived ninety years and accomplished many great things for the field of nursing. Her descriptions of nursing, health, environment, and humankind are remarkable and still true to this day. Nightingale reformed nursing and changed the way nursing was viewed. Some of the issues during Nightingale's time, the 1800's, we still face today. Nightingale not only impacted nursing in the 1800's, but also still has an effect on nursing today. We do not need a new role model and icon for nursing because Nightingale changed the nursing profession for the better and that should never be forgotten.

Florence Nightingale was named after the city in which she was born. She had only one sibling, an older sister named Parthenope. The Nightingale family was a part of a British elite social circle. They were very wealthy and had two comfortable estates, one in Derbyshire and another in Hampshire, both located in England. Nightingale’s father was very invested in her education, and by an early age she could already read and write in French, German, Greek, Italian, and Latin. At sixteen, Florence felt a calling from God to decrease human suffering. Even though her mother was from a family of merchants who were very social, Florence Nightingale was very awkward in social situations. She wanted to start a career in nursing, but her family did not