Florence Nightingale exhibited a gift for mathematics from an early age and excelled in the subject under the tutelage of her father. [d] Later, Nightingale became a pioneer in the visual presentation of information and statistical graphics. [74] She used methods such as the pie chart, which had first been developed by William Playfair in 1801. [75] While taken for granted now, it was at the time a relatively novel method of presenting data. [76] Every year, on 12 May, we mark International Nurses Day. It’s not just a celebration of nursing, it’s also the birthday of one of the world’s most famous nurses, Florence Nightingale. We knew 2020, two centuries since her birth, would be a big occasion. But with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting similarities between Nightingale’s experiences and those of nursing staff today, it’s taken on new significance. In the third century BC, hospitals were set up in villages in India. Ancient texts show how nurses were crucial in staffing these, and should demonstrate “good behaviour, distinguished for purity or cleanliness of habits.” They should also be “attached to the person for whose service they are engaged, possessed of cleverness and skill, endued with kindness, skilled in every service that a patient may require”. Louise Breen , Advanced Nurse Practitioner–Endocrine, Diabetes & Endocrine Department, St Thomas’ Hospital, London REFERENCES Her writings on Egypt, in particular, are testimony to her learning, literary skill, and philosophy of life. Sailing up the Nile as far as Abu Simbel in January 1850, she wrote of the Abu Simbel temples, "Sublime in the highest style of intellectual beauty, intellect without effort, without suffering ... not a feature is correct — but the whole effect is more expressive of spiritual grandeur than anything I could have imagined. It makes the impression upon one that thousands of voices do, uniting in one unanimous simultaneous feeling of enthusiasm or emotion, which is said to overcome the strongest man." [18]

From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family’s estate. By the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose. While at Scutari, Nightingale had contracted “Crimean fever” and would never fully recover. By the time she was 38 years old, she was homebound and bedridden and would be so for the remainder of her life. Fiercely determined and dedicated as ever to improving health care and alleviating patients’ suffering, Nightingale continued her work from her bed.What is the most rewarding part of being a mental health nurse at Nightingale Hospital? The patients, the appreciation, watch them grow again. I can say on my journey this hasn’t always been the way, but I treasure every minute … and of course, my colleagues who are dedicated and professional at all times. Rufaidah bint Sa-ad (also known as Rufaida Al-Aslamia and Rufayda al-Aslamiyyah) has been recognised as the first female Muslim nurse. Born around 620 CE the daughter of a physician, through assisting him she learned about patient care. The Nightingale Pledge is a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath which nurses in the United States recite at their pinning ceremony at the end of training. Created in 1893 and named after Nightingale as the founder of modern nursing, the pledge is a statement of the ethics and principles of the nursing profession. [104]

It took Florence and her nurses 13 days to reach Scutari, they travelled by ship to Boulogne, then overland to Marseilles where they had a break in the journey. From Marseilles, they took the mail steamer “Vectis” to Scutari. Nightingale herself suffered in the line of duty. During the war, she came down with Crimean Fever, or brucellosis. “Had it not been for Nightingale being nursed herself, there would be no Nightingale story,” says Anne Marie. “She owed her life to one nurse in particular.” Statistical pioneer She started a nursing school at St. Thomas' Hospital in 1860 and wrote books so that nurses could be properly trained to do their job.Recent commentators have asserted that Nightingale's Crimean War achievements were exaggerated by the media at the time, but critics agree on the importance of her later work in professionalising nursing roles for women. [7] In 1860, she laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world and is now part of King's College London. [8] In recognition of her pioneering work in nursing, the Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses, and the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve, were named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday. Her social reforms included improving healthcare for all sections of British society, advocating better hunger relief in India, helping to abolish prostitution laws that were harsh for women, and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce. Eventually, her father gave his permission for her to go to Germany to train in 1844 in a hospital in Kaiserwerth, Germany. When she returned she became the superintendent of a hospital for gentlewomen in Harley Street, London. Our work in the RCN History of Nursing Forum often focuses on RCN members and their legacy, who all came after Nightingale. Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate of health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors from her bed. In 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals, which focused on how to properly run civilian hospitals.

It’s available free of charge and provides strategies and advice to support people living with advanced dementia, their families and care providers, with a focus on promoting choice, well-being and forward planning. RCN President Professor Anne Marie Rafferty co-edited Notes on Nightingale, a collection of essays about her life and legacy. “She was essentially a celebrity in her own lifetime and achieved that iconic status early on,” says Anne Marie. “Her image was of great appeal to the public and must have been a source of tremendous reassurance. Many of those feminised virtues – compassion, heroism and sacrifice – are very powerful during times of crisis and seem to coalesce around female figures.” Supplies and hygiene Why did you want to become a nurse? I fell into nursing and stayed because I have the aptitude and passion for nursing

Compare some history textbooks from 1970s to those of today and see how they now tell the story of nursing in the Crimean War. The Nightingale Program is a palliative model of care, provided by specialist nurses and an Occupational Therapist throughout South Australia for advanced dementia care. Recorded to wax cylinder on 30 July 1890, to raise money for veterans of the Charge of the Light Brigade. [2] [3]

The ceremony took place virtually with messages of support and inspiration from Gillian Prager, President of The Nightingale Fellowship, and Chief Midwifery Officer for England, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE.Florence Nightingale was the second of two daughters born, during an extended European honeymoon, to William Edward and Frances Nightingale. (William Edward’s original surname was Shore; he changed his name to Nightingale after inheriting his great-uncle’s estate in 1815.) Florence was named after the city of her birth. After returning to England in 1821, the Nightingales had a comfortable lifestyle, dividing their time between two homes, Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, located in central England, and Embley Park in warmer Hampshire, located in south-central England. Embley Park, a large and comfortable estate, became the primary family residence, with the Nightingales taking trips to Lea Hurst in the summer and to London during the social season. In 1853, while Florence Nightingale was working in a hospital on Harley Street in London, a journalist from The Times newspaper, William Howard Russell, wrote reports about conditions the soldiers faced during the Crimean War. The Florence Nightingale Declaration Campaign, [105] established by nursing leaders throughout the world through the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH), aims to build a global grassroots movement to achieve two United Nations Resolutions for adoption by the UN General Assembly of 2008. They will declare: The International Year of the Nurse–2010 (the centenary of Nightingale's death); The UN Decade for a Healthy World – 2011 to 2020 (the bicentenary of Nightingale's birth). NIGH also works to rekindle awareness about the important issues highlighted by Florence Nightingale, such as preventive medicine and holistic health. As of 2016, the Florence Nightingale Declaration has been signed by over 25,000signatories from 106countries. [106]