Celebrate Nursing with the Pioneer: Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale literally wrote the book on nursing, and any celebration of the nursing profession must begin with a tribute to that brilliant woman and her myriad accomplishments.
The pioneer of modern nursing was born in Florence, Italy, in 1820 to a very wealthy upper-class English family. She was educated personally by her father in science, mathematics, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, literature and philosophy. She transformed into a worldly and sophisticated woman, too much so to sit back for the rest of her life and do nothing (which women of her milieu often did). In her twenties, she traveled through Europe and the Middle East and saw for herself all the legendary places and monuments she had read about, and continued to expand her mind and range of experience. Sensitized by her education and inspired by religious conviction, she decided at age 33 to become a nurse. Her announcement upset her startled parents who were still hoping she would marry well and fulfill her expected role as a high society matron.
Nevertheless, they supported her decision and, more importantly, settled an allowance on her so she could pursue her passion. At first, she took an administrative position at a London hospital for women where she learned quickly that the standards of health care at that time consisted mainly of properly shrouding the dead. Frustrated by that situation, and alarmed by the horrific news reports from the Crimean War, she organized a group of women to accompany her to Balaklava, Turkey, to care for the British troops who were dying there by the thousands for lack of proper medical care.
It was there that she became known as the 'Lady with the Lamp'. After dark, with the officers and doctors asleep, she and her cohort of dedicated nurses would patrol the tents full of sick and injured soldiers to minister to them. As important as the care she provided to the troops was, the real significance of her nursing work and the reason we remember her today-- she pioneered the Nursing profession.
Florence Nightingale defined the role of the nurse in modern society. She codified the rules of nursing in a book that has gone through countless editions and translations over the last 150 years. That basic manual is still read by nurses in training around the world. The reports and statistics that Florence Nightingale compiled formed the basis for modern nursing techniques and public health policies that were adopted in country after country, through successive wars and epidemics around the world, and continue to this day. The nursing school that she founded in London, upon her return from the Crimean War, went through several evolutions and remains to this day one the most respected nursing schools in the world.
The Florence Nightingale Pledge, so called as a token of esteem for the founder of modern nursing, is still the nursing oath sworn to by all aspiring nurses. This year is the International Year of the Nurse (IYNurse). It is also the 100th anniversary of the death of this remarkable woman. How fortunate for the world that she had the education, wisdom, and stamina to pursue her vision, and transform nursing from a lowly disrespected refuge for the poor and uneducated with few other prospects, into a noble profession now eagerly embraced by some 15 million professionally-trained health care providers around the world. Today's nurses are graduating from rigorous science-based programs, and kept up-to-date via continuing education. They are on the front line of the health care delivery system in every country of the world.
All of humanity is indebted to Florence Nightingale for making public health an integral part of every nurse's agenda. Trained in statistics, she single-handedly created a system of documenting, and formulating realistic data on the real causes of deaths of the soldiers she cared for. Her battlefront reports and statistical analyses eventually demonstrated how implementing the rules of simple hygiene could save countless lives in both peace and war.
After her stint as a war time nurse, she continued for decades to write, lecture and campaign through various media, to educate the public at large and government officials everywhere in proper nursing procedures and public health policies. Our Lady with Lamp died at the age of 90, leaving behind a legacy that created a noble profession and revolutionized health care around the world..
