Florence Nightingale and her contribution to modern medicine

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Florence Nightingale and her contribution to modern medicine

Despite her death over a century ago, Florence Nightingale’s influence still reverberates in the world of medicine. However, not many are aware that it is because of her that hospice care is wholesome. From proper care of injuries to the sterile conditions of carrying out medical activities in both outpatient and inpatient setting, all nursing aspects can be attributed to her. She argued that separate training should be performed by aspiring nurses (Christopher and Gill, 2005). It was during Florence’s voluntary mission work at the military fields that she got shocked at the number of soldiers dying from infection related deaths. She took it upon herself to ensure the sanitary conditions of health care facilities were up to par, she extended these conditions to housing and cooking segments. She even became immortalized in the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” due to her hard work (Christopher and Gill, 2005). Florence used her fame to spread her sanitary reforms.

Initially, nursing schools were premised on religion or military orders, nurses were never trained on the arty of caring, they just handled medical emergency situations as they appeared. Florence remedied the situation by initiating the first sectarian school of nursing (Richards, 2006). The institution was supported with funds from British soldiers she assisted during the war. In her nursing classes, Nightingale encouraged her students to focus on the duties and tasks undertaken by nurses, as well as, the entire well-being of their patients. The books she wrote are used today as relevant nursing textbooks. Florence has been called a visionary for her contributions to the field of nursing (Richards, 2006). She shifted the paradigm from the patient to the nursing environment; her points of concern were pure light, pure water, efficient drainage, light and cleanliness.

The nursing profession was looked down upon by many people. However, when Florence realized that many of the British soldiers were not dying from the extent of their injuries but from the pitiable sanitary conditions in which they were being treated. It was from this front that Florence agitated for change in the military health care system, and the nursing profession began gaining respect (Christopher and Gill, 2005). The unsanitary conditions led Florence to formulate statistical analysis on preventable deaths in the military. She came up with the ‘polar-area diagram’ that illustrated the extent of needless deaths occasioned by unsanitary conditions (Julia, 2008). She used this as a basis for the need of reform. She formulated that it was possible to determine social phenomena and subject the results to mathematical analysis. She relied on this formula to develop descriptive statistics that buttressed her claim for the need of reform.

The fact that nursing and health care was reformed by a woman who came from a crop of Victorian women who did not attend universities, neither did they purse profession careers. However, her parents were of a different school of thought, they believed that their children should get an education and make a better life for themselves. She and her sister learned Latin, Italian, mathematics and history (Gillian, 2004). This background enabled Florence to easily gather and formulate data on statistical analysis.

During the Crimean war, in Scutari, an era that had witnessed the shunning of female nurses owing to their poor reputation, the medical situation was appalling and there was public uproar on the neglect of the injured soldiers because of insufficient medical attention and treatment in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Soldiers lay on their own excrement on feeble stretchers strewn on corridors (Julia, 2008). The health facilities were infested with bugs and rodents; there were no bandages and soap. Florence and her nurses tidied up the place, cared for patients by day, and through the night using a lamp. Through her actions of caring for her patients throughout the night, she was referred to as ‘lady of the lamp.’

Florence gathered data and revolutionaries recordkeeping practices. She applied the data in improving the military and city hospitals. Florence and a team of nurses worked hard to overturn the conditions at Scutari to the point of reducing the overall deaths by twothirds. She conducted analyses on mortality rate, which she used to support her notion that improving sanitary conditions would result in a decrease, in deaths (Gillian, 2004). After her suggestions were implemented, the mortality rate reduced drastically.

From those results, she graphically represented the data, created polar-area charts that indicated the statistic being highlighted is proportional to the region of the wedge in a circular representation. Throughout her life, Florence received awards and prize money from various channels, including the British government (Richards, 2006). She used the monies acquired to further her cause of reform in health care. She funded the founding of St. Thomas hospital in which she advanced training and education of nurses.

Florence has been credited for improving conditions in the stay of hospitals. She implemented numerous patient services which aided in the improving of quality treatment in hospitals. It was Florence who came up with a patients’ kitchen where appealing food, in line with medical dietary requirements, was prepared (Mark, 2008). She initiated laundry segments in hospitals so that patients’ apparel would be cleaned and sterilized. In furtherance of making hospital stay more appealing, Florence integrated classrooms, as well as a library, for patients to stimulate their intellect. All the above attributes can be seen in virtually all health care facilities across the world. Florence Nightingale changed the hospital setting and treatment quality; as a result, unnecessary deaths were eradicated.

Nightingale’s statistics and ability to formulate diagrams on the situation on the ground paved the way for organized learning and led to improvement in medical, as well as surgical practices. Florence formulated a Model Hospital Statistical Form for health care facilities to generate and gather regular data and statistics (Linda, 2006). Nursing is not the same as medicine as its goal is to place the patient in conditions that will make them heal and feel better quickly. Nursing exercises promote health regardless in care giving situations.

Today, the nursing and medical fields are still applying practices pioneered by Florence. She emphasized on improved sanitation, gathering and compiling data on the situation on the ground. Hospitals across the world rely on collection of data to inform their decisions, surgeries cannot be conducted without analyzing success rates on similar surgeries, and nurses not only care about the treatment, but the overall well-being of the patient, as well (Mark, 2008). So many exercises revolve around Florence’s contributions and suggestions. Training of nurses has been intensified, and the scope of its study has similarly been increased (Gillian, 2004). From humble beginnings, Florence school of nursing has grown to the level it is today. Health care, as we know it, has developed at an amazing rate, many of the changed being witnessed stem from the ideologies postulated by Florence Nightingale.

References

Gill, Christopher J., and Gill, G.C. Nightingale in Scutari: Her Legacy Reexamined. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2005. Print.

Gill, Gillian. Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale. Ballantine Books. 2004. Print.

Julia, Rehmeyer. HYPERLINK “http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/38937/title/Florence_Nightingale_The_passionate_statistician” Florence Nightingale: The Passionate Statistician. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_News” o “Science News”Science News. 2008. Print.

HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Richards” o “Linda Richards”Richards, Linda. America’s First Trained Nurse: My Life as a Nurse in America, Great Britain and Japan 1872-1911. Diggory Press. 2006. Print.

Bostridge, Mark. Florence Nightingale, the Woman and her Legend. Viking. 2008. Print.