Florence Nightingale - Women’s History - HISTORY.com Florence Nightingale A+E Networks Introduction Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. During the Crimean War, she and a team of nurses improved the unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, reducing the death count by two-thirds. Her writings sparked worldwide health care reform. In 1860 she established St. Thomas’ Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. She died August 13, 1910, in London. Google Early Life Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy. She was the younger of two children. Nightingale’s affluent British family belonged to elite social circles. Her mother, Frances Nightingale, hailed from a family of merchants and took pride in socializing with people of prominent social standing. Despite her mother’s interest in social climbing, Florence herself was reportedly awkward in social situations. She preferred to avoid being the center of attention whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence often butted heads with her mother, whom she viewed as overly controlling.

Still, like many daughters, she was eager to please her mother. “I think I am got something more good-natured and complying,” Florence wrote in her own defense, concerning the mother-daughter relationship. Florence’s father was William Shore Nightingale, a wealthy landowner who had inherited two estates—one at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, and the other in Hampshire, Embley Park—when Florence was five years old. Florence was raised on the family estate at Lea Hurst, where her father provided her with a classical education, including studies in German, French and Italian. 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. When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing.

During the Victorian Era, a young lady of Nightingale’s social stature was expected to marry a man of means—not take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes. When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a “suitable” gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes. Nightingale explained her reason for turning him down, saying that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life.” Determined to pursue her true calling despite her parents’ objections, in 1844, Nightingale enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany. Career In the early 1850s, Nightingale returned to London, where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex hospital for ailing governesses. Her performance there so impressed her employer that Nightingale was promoted to superintendant within just a year of being hired. The position proved challenging as Nightingale grappled with a cholera outbreak and unsanitary conditions conducive to the rapid spread of the disease.

Nightingale made it her mission to improve hygiene practices, significantly lowering the death rate at the hospital in the process. The hard work took a toll on her health. She had just barely recovered when the biggest challenge of her nursing career presented itself. In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The British Empire was at war against the Russian Empire for control of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of British soldiers were sent to the Black Sea, where supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 soldiers had been admitted into military hospitals. At the time, there were no female nurses stationed at hospitals in the Crimea. The poor reputation of past female nurses had led the war office to avoid hiring more. But, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an uproar about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient medical attention due to hospitals being horribly understaffed, but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and inhumane conditions. 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. Although they had been warned of the horrid conditions there, nothing could have prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw when they arrived at Scutari, the British base hospital in Constantinople. The hospital sat on top of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and the hospital building itself. Patients lay on in their own excrement on stretchers strewn throughout the hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most basic supplies, such as bandages and soap, grew increasingly scarce as the number of ill and wounded steadily increased. Even water needed to be rationed. More soldiers were dying from infectious diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred in battle. The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly set to work. She procured hundreds of scrub brushes and asked the least infirm patients to scrub the inside of the hospital from floor to ceiling. Nightingale herself spent every waking minute caring for the soldiers.

In the evenings she moved through the dark hallways carrying a lamp while making her rounds, ministering to patient after patient. 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. In additional to vastly improving the sanitary conditions of the hospital, Nightingale created a number of patient services that contributed to improving the quality of their hospital stay. She instituted the creation of an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food for patients with special dietary requirements was cooked. She established a laundry so that patients would have clean linens. She also instituted a classroom and a library, for patients’ intellectual stimulation and entertainment. Based on her observations in the Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army, an 830-page report analyzing her experience and proposing reforms for other military hospitals operating under poor conditions. The book would spark a total restructuring of the War Office’s administrative department, including the establishment of a Royal Commission for the Health of the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a year and a half. She left in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to her childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise she was met with a hero’s welcome, which the humble nurse did her best to avoid. The Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work by presenting her with an engraved brooch that came to be known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her a prize of $250,000 from the British government. Nightingale decided to use the money to further her cause. In 1860, she funded the establishment of St. Thomas’ Hospital, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Nightingale became a figure of public admiration. Poems, songs and plays were written and dedicated in the heroine’s honor. Young women aspired to be like her. Eager to follow her example, even women from the wealthy upper classes started enrolling at the training school. Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, come to be viewed as an honorable vocation.

Later Life 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. 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. Throughout the U.S. Civil War, she was frequently consulted about how to best manage field hospitals. Nightingale also served as an authority on public sanitation issues in India for both the military and civilians, although she had never been to India herself. In 1908, at the age of 88, she was conferred the merit of honor by King Edward. In May of 1910, she received a congratulatory message from King George on her 90th birthday.

Death and Legacy In August 1910, Florence Nightingale fell ill, but seemed to recover and was reportedly in good spirits. A week later, on the evening of Friday, August 12, 1910, she developed an array of troubling symptoms. She died unexpectedly at 2 pm the following day, Saturday, August 13, at her home in London. Characteristically, she had expressed the desire that her funeral be a quiet and modest affair, despite the public’s desire to honor Nightingale—who tirelessly devoted her life to preventing disease and ensuring safe and compassionate treatment for the poor and the suffering. Respecting her last wishes, her relatives turned down a national funeral. The “Lady with the Lamp” was laid to rest in a family plot at Westminster Abbey. The Florence Nightingale Museum, which sits at the site of the original Nightingale Training School for Nurses, houses more than 2,000 artifacts commemorating the life and career of the “Angel of the Crimea.” To this day, Florence Nightingale is broadly acknowledged and revered as the pioneer of modern nursing.

Biography courtesty of Bio.com Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War | Understanding Uncertainty Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War Submitted by ims25 on Tue, 07/10/2008 - 5:06pm On 28 March 1854 Britain and France declared war on Russia, and for the next two years British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops fought against Russians in the Crimean War. The loss of life in the war was colossal; of 1 650 000 soldiers who began the war (of all nations), 900 000 died. The majority of those who perished did not die from wounds; rather they died from diseases brought about by the terrible living conditions which they suffered. In these notes we review the Crimean War, and the role Florence Nightingale had in highlighting the plight of the soldiers. Siege of Sevastopol Background to the war The Ottoman Empire (1293-1922) was a realm centred on Turkey, which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, spanned thousands of miles into Africa, Asia, and Europe.

The empire declined in the nineteenth century, and as it shrank there was conflict over control of the territory. The Holy Land (modern day Israel) was a region in the Ottoman Empire that had a long history of power struggles. In the 1850s France and Russia vied for authority of the Holy Land, each trying to force their will on the Ottomans who occupied the territory. Their disagreement escalated, and as the threat of Russian interference in the whole Ottoman Empire increased, Britain, Austria, and Prussia became involved to try to maintain stability of the empire. Initial peaceful negotiations failed, and the British and French sided with the Turkish Ottomans in war against the Russians. Major events of the war Most of the conflict in the Crimean War occurred on the Crimean Peninsula, which lies on the southern tip of Ukraine, and projects into the Black Sea. The Crimea was an important military position for the Russians, because their naval fleet could access the Mediterranean Sea from the region. Several of the more significant battles in the Crimean War are described below. The Battle of the Alma (20 September 1854).

In the first battle of the Crimean War, British and French forces clashed with Russian forces near the River Alma in the Crimea. The Russians were defeated. Siege of Sevastopol (25 September 1854 to 8 September 1855). Sevastopol is a city in the south of the Crimea, and it was the home of a major fleet of Russian ships. The British, French, and Turkish troops besieged the city for one year before finally capturing it on the 9 September 1855. The Battle of Balaclava (25 October 1854). The Battle of Balaclava is now remembered for the calamitous Charge of the Light Brigade which saw British cavalry charge needlessly to their doom under the muddled and misinformed orders of their superiors. Much of the fame of this futile advance is due to a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson entitled 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', which describes the bravery of the cavalry under incompetent command. The Battle of Balaclava involved British, French, Turkish, and Russian armies. It finished inconclusively, although the Russians suffered heavier losses.

The Battle of Eupatoria (17 February 1855). A large Russian force attacked the town of Eupatoria in the Crimea, which was occupied by the Turks. The Russians were repelled. The Sea of Azov naval campaign (25 May 1855 to 22 November 1855). British and French war ships attacked Russian ports from the Sea of Azov during a six month period in 1855. The object of these attacks was to intercept Russian communications and supplies. The war ships bombarded the Russian towns repeatedly, but they were met with stubborn resistance, and attempts to land and overthrow the port towns were quashed. Map of Crimea with locations of battles marked. The close of the war The war concluded in February 1856. The Ottoman and Russian Empires agreed to halt military activity on the Black Sea, and all nations agreed to respect the autonomy of the Ottoman Empire. The peace treaty was not to last long though. The balance of power and partnership in Europe was in a state of constant flux. Old alliances failed, new alliances were formed, and by the 1870s the treaty had been abandoned.

Florence Nightingale's role in the war Those British troops wounded from fighting on the Crimean Peninsula were shipped across the Black Sea to medical stations in Turkey. These stations were poorly staffed, with insufficient supplies, and the medical and sanitary conditions were awful. This terrible state of affairs was reported by the media in Britain. Thirty eight voluntary nurses, amongst them Florence Nightingale, travelled to Turkey to help relieve the situation. Nightingale proved herself to be hugely resourceful. Her competence and generosity were reported back in Great Britain. The Times Newspaper described her deeds in the following excerpt. She is a 'ministering angel' without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds. Nightingale became known as 'The Lady with the Lamp' after these words were published in the Times.

Florence Nightingale Diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery were rife in the army hospitals. Many more soldiers were dying from diseases than from wounds. Nightingale worked towards improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and activity for the patients of the hospitals. Death rates were reduced dramatically with the introduction of such measures. Nightingale kept meticulous records of the number of deaths, and the causes of deaths, so that on her return to Great Britain she could justify the need for improving conditions in hospitals. Following Nightingale's return to Great Britain and her campaign for better living conditions for the army, the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army was created. Nightingale prepared an 800 page report for the commission on the welfare of the army. She advocated the use of statistics as a tool in decision making. Nightingale created graphs to demonstrate that more soldiers died in the Crimean War from disease than from wounds. Many of these graphs were of a particular flower like type, and are now described as coxcombs.

Levels: Florence Nightingale | History of Nursing May 12, 1820 – August 13, 1910 Italy, Great Britain, Crimea, Russia Florence Nightingale was a famous English woman who changed history through her pioneering efforts in the areas of nursing, mathematics/statistics and the recognition of professional women. Florence Nightingale was born of wealthy parents in the Italian city of Florence on May 12, 1820. She became a very personable, witty and confident person. Florence led an exciting and privileged life, playing with rich friends and visiting many interesting places. A significant consequence of being a child of wealthy parents was the ability of Florence to receive an advanced education. During the Victorian times of the 1800s, few ordinary people had access to higher education. Moreover, most women had very little education and highly educated women were extremely rare. William Nightingale, Florence’s father was determined that his daughters would receive an education equal to and better than that of the smartest and richest people around. Florence and her sister, Parthenope, were taught to speak Italian, Latin and Greek, along with their native English. They learned history, geography and mathematics.

Florence developed a keen interest in mathematics and displayed an unusual gift of understanding complex mathematical problems and concepts. She received special tutoring from James Sylvester, a renowned mathematician and scientist. At the young age of 16, Florence believed that she heard God’s voice urging her to do something special to help others. As she grew older, she began to take an interest in how sick people were cared for and how they regained their health. In her home town of Romney, Hampshire, she talked with many people in the surrounding area about how they worked to help the sick. She became obsessed with learning more about healthcare. Florence Nightingale and Nursing In her twenties, Florence decided that she would become a nurse and fulfill her intense desire to help the sick. Her parents were greatly surprised and upset that Florence wished to be a nurse. In the time of Florence’s life, nursing was not considered an important or prestigious profession and one that was usually performed by poor men and women. Despite her parent’s opposition, Florence and some of her friends attended nursing school at the world famous German hospital in Kaiserwerth. Florence returned home to England a proud and successfully trained nurse.

Ironically, her first major nursing job was to care for her parents and sister, who all became ill during the years of 1851-1853. In 1853 Florence obtained a position of managing a small private hospital in London. During the year of 1854 Florence kept busy helping sick and suffering people affected by a major outbreak of cholera that spread throughout the London area and beyond. Crimean War A major turning event in Florence’s life happened in 1854. War broke out with the British, French and Ottoman Turks fighting against the Russian Empire. This war became known as the Crimean War as a result of much of the fighting occurred on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. Fighting during the war was more brutal than anyone expected and casualties quickly mounted. British troops were dying due to a lack of doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and medical supplies. A family friend of Florence and a British government official, Sidney Herbert, approached her and asked if she could organize a group of nurses and other healthcare workers and travel to the Crimea to give aid to the desperate, wounded soldiers.

Florence and her group of 38 volunteer nurses arrived in Scutari, an area in the Turkish capital of Constantinople, on November 4, 1854. This area contained the main British hospital. Florence was horrified to observe the poor conditions of the hospital. The hospital was filthy; plumbing and sewer drainage was blocked and rats and fleas were everywhere. In addition to quickly helping the wounded soldiers, Florence worked feverishly to improve the overall condition of the hospital and surrounding support buildings in the Scutari area. She virtually took over the operation of the hospital and had sewer and water systems fixed and purified, insured a supply of clean bandages, bedding and other supplies and instituted a strict nursing timetable to insure that the soldiers were cared for and attended to on a regular basis to improve recovery. Florence became very popular with the wounded and sick soldiers. She was affectionately referred to as the “Lady with the Lamp”, due to her nightly routines of checking the patients well being. Data Collection and Record Keeping Florence completely revamped and modernized the entire healthcare delivery and sanitation systems of the British hospital system in Scutari and beyond.

Florence used her immense talent in mathematics to pioneer new techniques of statistical data collection, analysis and display/delivery to help improve the poor medical care and unsanitary conditions of the established healthcare system. Florence implemented many innovative records keeping and impact analysis systems based on pioneering statistical techniques. She developed the Polar-Area Diagram to identify, plot and display the needless deaths of soldiers caused by the lack of ongoing, dedicated care, lack of sufficient food and unsanitary conditions. Florence proved that statistics provided a superior means of learning the overall status of healthcare delivery and such data collection and analysis led to improved medical and surgical delivery. Her innovative Model Hospital Statistical Form helped hospitals to better collect and generate consistent healthcare maintenance data for use in improving healthcare delivery. Florence returned to England in 1856 when the Crimean War ended. She was considered a national heroine and celebrated throughout the land. She received thousands of congratulatory letters and there were even Florence Nightingale ornaments sold throughout Great Britain in celebration. Anxious to learn more about her experience and new ideas, Queen Victoria met with Florence in Balmoral, Scotland to obtain Florence’s advice on how military hospitals could be improved throughout the British Empire.

Florence published Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army (1857) and Notes on Nursing/Hospitals (1859), which described her experience and innovative ideas on caring for the sick. Convinced that all nurses should have superior training as she and few others had, Florence instituted the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London in 1860. Graduates of her school were called Nightingale Nurses. With her books, public appearances and the spread of Nightingale Nurses, Florence’s healthcare reforms and innovative practices spread throughout the world. Florence even gave advice to American nurses and healthcare workers during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. Awards and Recognition Florence became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1858 and was made an honorary member of the American Statistical Association in 1874. She received the Royal Red Cross from Queen Victoria in 1907 and later that year she received the Order of Merit from King Edward VII, the first ever given to a woman.

Florence Nightingale lived to a ripe old age of 90 and died August 13, 1910. She is buried in a Hampshire churchyard in England. Despite her worldwide fame, she has a simple tombstone which lists only the initials of her name and the years she was born and died. Truly one of history’s most remarkable women, virtually all of us have experienced or will experience superior healthcare in our time of need due to the efforts and foresight of Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale - British Nurse Reformed Medical Care Florence Nightingale British Nurse Brought Important Innovations to Medicine Florence Nightingale depicted in a Crimean War hospital. Getty Images By Robert McNamara Florence Nightingale achieved great fame in the mid-1800s as "The Lady With the Lamp" after her service as a nurse in the Crimean War . Though she spent much of her life housebound with illness, she campaigned for reforms in nursing and was a vocal proponent of sanitation practices. The British Army adopted many of her proposals, and her ideas eventually became standard practices throughout the world. Simple sanitary practices, such as hand washing, were promoted by Nightingale and became commonplace in modern society.

And her name practically became synonymous with nursing. Early Life Born in Italy to wealthy British parents on May 12, 1820, Florence Nightingale seemed destined to a life of privilege. Her parents, who owned an estate in England, were fixtures of society. Young Florence rebelled against the life of her family, and became determined to serve society. She developed an ambition to work in hospitals. Her family was horrified, as nursing, in the early 1800s, was not considered a respectable profession. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Florence stubbornly clung to her wishes, worked as a private nurse, and attended a nursing school in Germany. Crimean War Service In 1853, Florence Nightingale became the director of a small charitable hospital in London. It gave her a chance to use not only her nurse's training but her ability at organization and administration. When Britain went to war against Russia, Nightingale, through the intercession of a British official she knew, was invited to travel to the Crimea. She brought along 38 nurses.

In November 1854 Nightingale and her party arrived in Constantinople, and discovered appalling conditions at the British Army hospital at Scutari. "The Lady With the Lamp" In the Crimea, Nightingale was able to get officers to accept her and her band of nurses. However, the prevailing attitude of the time was that common soldiers were of lower classes and did not deserve comfort or proper medical attention. Nightingale struggled to change that archaic attitude, and with funds raised through a campaign with the London Times, she was able to provide medical supplies to the wounded troops. She soon became legendary as a compassionate nurse, and was dubbed "The Lady With the Lamp." While she did do some nursing, her real contributions were organizational. Quietly Exerted Power After the Crimean War , Nightingale returned to Britain. While she was now considered a national hero, she rejected the accolades and preferred to work behind the scenes. She wrote pamphlets and books urging reforms in the way the British military treated sick and wounded soldiers, and she even lobbied Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Nightingale set up a school for nurses, and also campaigned for reforms in sanitation as a way of stopping the spread of disease.

Illness and a Reclusive Life The time spent near the front during the Crimean War took a physical toll, and Nightingale's health declined in the late 1850s. By 1861 she seldom left her room, though she continued to write and issue statements and reports. Despite her withdrawal from public life, her ideas about sanitation in British India gained currency. And her book Notes on Nursing greatly influenced the emerging nursing profession. She continued to write and influence policies, and despite her chronic illness, she lived to the age of 90. She died on August 13, 1910. Florence Nightingale - The National Archives Florence Nightingale External links On 4 November 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived in Turkey with a group of 38 nurses from England. Britain was at war with Russia (the Crimean War 1854-1856) and the conditions in the hospitals were very bad. Hundreds of soldiers were injured in the fighting. In those days, hospitals were very basic and the soldiers were not given good food and medicine to help them get better.

When Florence Nightingale got to the hospital, she saw that wounded men were sleeping in overcrowded, dirty rooms without any blankets. Wounded soldiers often arrived with diseases like typhus, cholera and dysentery. More men died from these diseases than from their injuries. When she arrived at the hospital, the army doctors who worked there did not want the nurses helping. Soon after they arrived, however, there was a very large battle and the doctors realised they needed the nurses’ help. Florence Nightingale realised that if the doctors were going to allow her nurses to work then they had to do a very good job. Tasks Source 4 5. Now you are going to take part in a role-play. It is late September 1854. Florence Nightingale and Elisabeth Herbert (the wife of Sidney Herbert, the Secretary of War) are interviewing a woman who wants to go to the Crimea as a nurse. First you will have to decide what questions you want to ask the woman. You can ask no more than eight. Use your observations from the exercise in section 2 to help you choose the ones that will be most effective in deciding whether the woman is suitable. Now get into a group of three.

One person should play the part of the woman who wants to go to the Crimea as a nurse. The other two play Florence and Elisabeth and ask the questions. At the end you must decide, do we offer the woman a job as a nurse? Background Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 to a wealthy couple. As she grew up, she decided that she had a calling to help the sick and poor and decided she wanted to become a nurse. When Florence told her parents what she wanted, they were not happy. Being a nurse was not respectable and was not thought to be a proper profession. Therefore they did not want this for their daughter. Eventually, her father gave his permission for her to go to Germany where she gained some nursing experience at the Deaconess Institution Hospital for the poor and sick. When she returned she became the lady superintendent (manager) of a hospital for gentlewomen in Harley Street, London. When war broke out, the government only expected it to last until Christmas. It actually lasted two years. They were not ready for how many soldiers would be injured, and this was one of the reasons why the hospitals were in such a bad state.

A reporter for the Times newspaper sent back several reports about the hospitals, and people in Britain started demanding something was done about them. This was when the Minister for War, Sidney Herbert, stepped in and asked Florence Nightingale to arrange and take charge of nurses to send to the war. Florence returned after the war as a national heroine. She had been shocked by the conditions in the hospital and began to campaign to improve the quality of nursing in military hospitals. Importantly, she gathered a lot of information about food, death rates, and doctors’ training in these hospitals. In October 1856 she met with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and in 1857 she gave evidence to a Sanitary Commission. This helped with the setting up of the Army Medical College in Chatham in 1859. In 1859, Florence published a book called ‘Notes on Nursing’ which is still in print today. She also founded the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Up until her death, Florence encouraged the development in nursing in Britain and abroad.

The main reason we remember her is that she did a lot of work educating people about the importance of keeping hospitals clean and free from infections, and this work is carried on today in modern hospitals. Something which is less well known is that she was also very gifted with numbers and reports, and because of this, she became the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society in 1858. Teachers' notes Florence Nightingale is best known for her work at Scutari hospital, Turkey, during the Crimean War and then afterwards for her role in developing nursing as a profession. She is also known as ‘the lady with the lamp’ and this quotation relates to an article published about her in the Times newspaper on Thursday 8 February 1855, which reads: ‘She is a “ministering angel” without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her.

When all the medical officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have settled down upon these miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.’ The mention of the miles of sick relates to contemporary reports that the wards at Scutari stretched for four miles. 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. Other women who nursed during the Crimean war were Mary Seacole and Elizabeth (Betsy) Davis. The documents are designed for use in key stage 1 as part of an enquiry into Florence Nightingale and are intended to be read to pupils by their teacher. They can also be designed for use in key stage 2 as part of a study of the Victorians. Glossary You may need to help with some of the language in this document: Derry Wrapper : A wrapper is a type of dressing gown.

Linseywoolsey : A coarse fabric made from linen or cotton with a wool filling Alpaca : A glossy black woollen fabric Stays : Flat strips of steel or plastic used for stiffening corsets. The word was also often used to refer to corsets in general. Sources Illustration – COPY 1/11 Source 1 – ‘One of the wards of the hospital at Scutari’, an illustration published 21 April 1856 by Paul & Dominic Colnaghi & Co, by kind permission of the Wellcome Library, London Source 2 – WO 33/1 An extract from the ‘Report upon the state of the hospitals of the British Army in the Crimea and Scutari’ Source 4 – WO 43/963 Extract from Rules and Regulations for the Nurses Attached to the Military Hospitals in the East. External links Education & Resources - National Women's History Museum - NWHM National Women's History Museum Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-5877 Florence Nightingale was born in Italy on May 12, 1820.

Her parents, William and Frances Nightingale were very wealthy and spent their time traveling Europe. After Florence’s birth, the family moved back to England. Florence’s interest in math and medicine began in her childhood. She was educated at home, and spent her free time cataloging her possessions. In 1845, Florence informed her family that she wished to become a nurse. Her parents were angered by her decision and sent her to travel Europe with family friends, in hopes that she would forget about nursing. After a year abroad, she was able to convince her parents to let her study at a hospital in Germany. In 1853, she became the Superintendent of the Establishment for Gentlewomen during illness, in London. A year later, in 1854, Florence was recruited by the Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, to join the efforts of the Crimean War. She and 28 other nurses were sent to Turkey. In Turkey, Florence implemented sanitary reform, which dropped the death rates from 42% to 2%. During this time, Florence also invented the polar-area chart.

Angered by the death she saw in Turkey, Florence issued a report, Notes on Matters Affecting the Health of the British Army, in 1858 to the Royal Commission. She also set up a nursing school in London in 1859, where sanitary practices were taught. During the Civil War, the Union Army contacted Florence to help with field medicine. Her recommendations led to the forming of the United States Sanitary Commission. Florence also worked with several American doctors and nurses, training them in her practice. In 1869, she and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive her medical degree in the United States, opened the Women’s Medical College. Florence also worked with Linda Richards, who became known as “America’s first trained nurse”. For her efforts, Florence was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria in 1883. However, by 1896, Florence fell ill and was forced to spend her time in bed. During this time, she wrote extensively about hospital planning. She died on August 13, 1910.

IMA Hero: Florence Nightingale HH Contents: Florence Nightingale | Fl orence's Calling | Crimean War | Red Cross | Hospital Improvements | Nightingale Training School | Nursing Becomes a Respectable Profession | Honoring Florence Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) Florence Nightingale is the founder of modern nursing. She transformed nursing into a respectable profession and set the standards for clean, safe hospitals in the world. Florence is honored as the first great nurse of the world. Her picture hangs on the wall in many hospitals. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy. She was named Florence after her city of birth. Florence's sister was born in Naples and is named Parthenope. Parthenope is the Greek name for Naples. Top of Page Florence's Calling When Florence was 24 years old, she had a "calling" from God. She wrote in her journal, "God spoke to me and called me to His service." Florence decided her calling was to help the sick and the poor by becoming a nurse. Florence came from a wealthy family and was not expected to work.

It was especially unacceptable for Florence to work as a nurse because nursing was not a respectable profession at this time. This, however, did not stop Florence from following her desires. Florence went to the Institute of Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany, to learn about nursing. At this time, nurses learned through experience, not through training. Florence treated sick people, distributed medicine, and assisted during operations. She was very happy and said, "We learned to think of our work, not ourselves." Top of Page The Crimean War In 1854, England entered the Crimean War. Florence and a team of 38 nurses went to the Crimea (near Turkey) to help the wounded soldiers. The military hospitals were dirty and run down. Florence made sanitary improvements which helped bring the death rate down from 40% to 2%. Florence was kind and gentle with the soldiers. She would talk with them and comfort them as she made her rounds. This gave the soldiers hope.

When Florence made her rounds at night, she carried a lamp with her to light her way and became known as "The Lady with the Lamp." Top of Page The Red Cross Florence's work in the Crimean War inspired Jean Henri Dunant. In 1864, Dunant founded the International Red Cross. It began as an international society of volunteers who cared for sick and wounded soldiers and prisoners of war. Today, the Red Cross also provides disaster relief during peacetime. Top of Page Hospital Improvements During Florence's time, the hospitals were overcrowded, poorly run, and disease infested. They were doing more harm than good. Florence thought hospitals should help patients, not hurt them. This was a revolutionary idea at the time. Florence wrote Notes on Hospitals explaining how to make improvements to hospitals. She believed hospitals needed better ventilation, more windows, improved drainage, and less cramped conditions. With Florence's guidance, hospitals became clean and sanitary places where lives were saved, not lost. Florence also became an expert on designing hospitals. Foreign rulers sought her advice when building their hospitals. Soon, hospitals throughout the world were being built according to her ideas. Today, we still see how Florence has improved hospitals.

The flowers, recreation rooms, and bright wards are an influence of Florence's work. Top of Page Nightingale Training School for Nurses Florence thought nurses should learn through both experience and training. In 1860, Florence opened the first training school for nurses. It was called the Nightingale Training School, and the nurses were called Nightingale Nurses. Today, the Nightingale Nurses carry on Florence's work of caring for the sick and the poor. Top of Page Nursing becomes a Respectable Profession Florence created high standards for the nursing profession. These standards helped transform nursing into the respectable profession we know today. Florence's writings continue to provide excellent resources for nurses and health care providers. Her book, Notes on Nursing, spells out the principles of nursing. Top of Page Honoring Florence Florence Nightingale died on August 13, 1910, in London, England. She was 90 years old. She is buried at St. Margaret's, East Wellow, near her family home at Embley. Her inscription states, "F.N. Born 1820. Died 1910." She did not want any other memorial.

Many nurses came to pay tribute to Florence at her funeral. Florence has been commemorated on stamps, medals, and the British �10. The Florence Nightingale Pledge for nurses is still recited today. In England, there are two wreath laying ceremonies to commemorate Florence's birthday. There are several monuments, plaques, and museums around the world in Florence's honor. In England, there are monuments in London and St. Margaret's Church, where she is buried. In Italy, there are plaques commemorating Florence's birthplace. In Turkey, there is a museum established in part of the Barracks Hospital used by Florence during the Crimean War. Florence revolutionized the nursing profession and is a hero in our hearts. Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale May 12, 1820 - August 13, 1910 Written by Cynthia Audain, Class of 1998 (Agnes Scott College) Florence Nightingale is most remembered as a pioneer of nursing and a reformer of hospital sanitation methods.

For most of her ninety years, Nightingale pushed for reform of the British military health-care system and with that the profession of nursing started to gain the respect it deserved. Unknown to many, however, was her use of new techniques of statistical analysis, such as during the Crimean War when she plotted the incidence of preventable deaths in the military. She developed the " polar-area diagram " to dramatize the needless deaths caused by unsanitary conditions and the need for reform. With her analysis, Florence Nightingale revolutionized the idea that social phenomena could be objectively measured and subjected to mathematical analysis. She was an innovator in the collection, tabulation, interpretation, and graphical display of descriptive statistics. Florence Nightingale's two greatest life achievements--pioneering of nursing and the reform of hospitals--were amazing considering that most Victorian women of her age group did not attend universities or pursue professional careers. It was her father, William Nightingale, who believed women, especially his children, should get an education. So Nightingale and her sister learned Italian, Latin, Greek, history, and mathematics.

She in particular received excellent early preparation in mathematics from her father and aunt, and some references also claim she was tutored in mathematics by James Sylvester (although there seems to be no documentary evidence of this). In 1854, after a year as a unpaid superintendent of a London "establishment for gentlewomen during illness," the Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, recruited Nightingale and 38 nurses for service in Scutari during the Crimean War. During Nightingale's time at Scutari, she collected data and systematized record-keeping practices. Nightingale was able to use the data as a tool for improving city and military hospitals. Nightingale's calculations of the mortality rate showed that with an improvement of sanitary methods, deaths would decrease. In February, 1855, the mortality rate at the hospital was 42.7 percent of the cases treated (Cohen 131). When Nightingale's sanitary reform was implemented, the mortality rate declined. Nightingale took her statistical data and represented them graphically. She invented polar-area charts, where the statistic being represented is proportional to the area of a wedge in a circular diagram (Cohen 133).

As Nightingale demonstrated, statistics provided an organized way of learning and lead to improvements in medical and surgical practices. She also developed a Model Hospital Statistical Form for hospitals to collect and generate consistent data and statistics. She became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1858 and an honorary member of the American Statistical Association in 1874. Karl Pearson acknowledged Nighingale as a "prophetess" in the development of applied statistics. Read about the mathematical education in the life of Florence Nightingale in an article by Sally Lipsey that appeared in the Newsletter of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Watch a video on "The Lady With a Data Visualization" from the "Joy of Stats", The Open University, England. References Cohen, I. B. "Florence Nightingale," Scientific American, 250 (March 1984),128-137. Cohen, I.B. The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life, W. H. Norton, 2006. Chapter 9 is devoted to Florence Nightingale. [Read excerpts from Google Book Search ] Sandra Stinnett.

"Women in Statistics: Sesquicentennial Activities," The American Statistician, May 1990, Vol 44, No. 2, 74-80. Kopf, E.W. "Florence Nightingale as a Statistician," J. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 15 (1916), 388-404. Nuttall, P. "The Passionate Statistician," Nursing Times, 28 (1983), 25- 27. Grier, M.R. "Florence Nightingale and Statistics," Res. Nurse Health, 1 (1978), 91-109. Lipsey, Sally. " Mathematical Education in the Life of Florence Nightingale ," Newsletter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, Vol 23, Number 4 (July-August 1993), 11-12. Wadsworth Jr., Harrison, Kenneth Stephens and A. Blanton Godfrey, Modern Methods for Quality Control and Improvement, Wiley & Sons, 1986.

Discusses the history of graphical methods in quality control and F. Nightingale's contributions.

Question: Florence Nightingale was a nurse during which war?
Answer: The Crimean War