Nightingale, Florence

Florence Nightingale was an English nurse of aristocratic origin, author of professional literature and a pioneer of comparative medical statistics. She was called "The Lady with the Lamp".


She was born on May 12, 1820 in Villa Colombaia in the Italian city of Florence. According to his hometown, it was named Florence. Her parents were named William Edward Nightingale, born William Edward Shore and Frances, born Smith. William Edward inherited the property from Leo Hurst and, at the last will of Peter Nightingale, his mother Mary's uncle, adopted his last name. The family spent about two years on their honeymoon in Europe. Florence had a year older sister Frances Parthenope, named after the former Greek settlement that is now part of the city of Naples.


They returned to England in 1821. They lived mostly in Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, for the winter they moved to Embley in Hampshire. Edward Nightingale has taught mathematics, history, philosophy and foreign languages to his daughters since he was a child - French, Italian, German, Greek and Latin. Florence enjoyed learning a lot. When she was growing up, she was not interested, as was the custom at the time, in getting married and closing in on a family circle. She learned social feelings from her maternal grandfather, William Smith, a member of the abolitionist movement (the slave liberation movement in Europe and America).


In February 1837, she felt a strong desire to dedicate her life to others. Her decision was not met with great understanding, as the position of nurse had a very bad reputation at the time. The nurses usually became former employees or widows who could not find any other job and were therefore forced to make a living from this job. Also in the 19th century, women from better society mostly did not work and devoted themselves to their families. Florence protested greatly against the custom, and it took her over 10 years for her parents to agree to become a nurse. Richard Monckton Milnes, a politician and poet, courted her as an attractive woman for many years, but after nine years of courting, she rejected him on the belief that marriage would impair her ability to pursue her goal - the profession of nurse.


She gained medical experience mainly at hospitals in London and Edinburgh. At that time, she met Elisabeth Fry, who was interested in the social reform that Florence had devised. With the support of Charles Villiers, then president of the Organization for the Rights of the Poor, in 1844 he became a leader in improving medical care in hospitals. At that time, the problem was not only the environment in which the patients were, but also the lack of education of the nurses. The hospitals did not follow the basics of hygiene, there was a lack of work organization and a human approach to the patient. Florance went with family friends on a trip to Italy, Greece, Egypt and in 1850 to Germany. In Germany, they visited the hospital of the pastor Theodor Fliedner and the school of diaconia in Kaiserswerth, one of the oldest parts of the city Düsseldorf. Theodor Fliedner was an Evangelical pastor, and he founded the hospital and school in October 1836 to provide humanitarian aid. In 1849, Florence took part in a four-month course at the local institute. Subsequently, she worked for the Sisters of Mercy in Paris. On August 22, 1853, she took up the position of Superintendent of the Institute for the Care of Sick Ladies in London, where she worked until October 1854. She received an annual income of £ 500 from her father, which enabled her to live comfortably and pursue a career.


In September 1853, the Crimean War began, bringing thousands of wounded soldiers for whom medical facilities in Turkey were unprepared. When the poor situation of the soldiers in the infirmaries began to be written in a newspaper for the British public, War Minister Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, asked Florence to organize nursing care for the soldiers. They had both known each other since 1847, when they met in Rome, where Sidney Herbert was on his honeymoon.Florence brought together 38 volunteer nurses, with whom she traveled to Turkey on October 21, 1854. In November 1854, the Selimiye barracks arrived in Scutari (Greek name for the Istanbul district, now the district of Istanbul called Üsküdar located on the Asian shores of the Bosphorus), where wounded soldiers received poor care from sophisticated medical personnel. The injured suffered from a lack of drugs, their hygiene was neglected, and frequent mass infections, often with fatal consequences, occurred.


The war brought about 400,000 dead soldiers on the side of France, Great Britain, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. A large number of them died due to poor hygiene in cholera, typhus and bloody diarrhea (diarrhea). Florence tried to combat fatigue, poor nutrition and living conditions mainly with the help of hygienic measures, such as regular change of bed linen, adequate lighting, regular ventilation, healthier diet and better dining equipment. It supported the activity of the sick and improved the supply of medicines. All these measures brought greater chances of healing wounded and sick soldiers. At the same time, at Florance's request to address the poor condition of hospital facilities, the British government sent a prefabricated hospital to the Dardanelles, which provided better conditions for the treatment of wounded soldiers.


The Hygiene Commission from England arrived 6 months after the arrival of Florence with volunteer nurses. It ensured the washing of sewers and sewers and the improvement of ventilation. She also managed to put together 125 volunteer nurses. Improving treatment conditions reduced soldiers' mortality from 42% to 2%. The rapid decline in mortality confirmed the link between hygiene and health. However, Florance never took credit for reducing mortality. Her acquired experience was later the basis of her work for the Royal Army Health Commission on the impact of living conditions on health.


She got the nickname "lady with a lamp" from soldiers who remembered her so much from her evening walks around patients, and she became publicly known thanks to an article in the Times newspaper. While still in Turkey, a public assembly to support Florence Nightingale's work established a nursing training foundation. The fund has received many generous donations. Sidney Herbert became the honorary secretary of the fund and Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, became the chairman.


In 1860, Florence established the first medical school in England. The school was established in the hospital of St. Tomas and today bears the name of Florence Nightingale. The education of nurses has led not only to an increase in the level of health care, but also to an increase in the credit of the nurse profession.
In 1869 Florence together with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell opened a college of medicine for girls.


During her lifetime, Florence has published around 200 books, documents, reports and leaflets on social issues, issues affecting the health, efficiency and hospital administration of the British Army. She played a major role in establishing the Royal Army Health Commission, chaired by Sidney Herbert. Although Florence, as a woman, could not be part of the commission, she wrote a report for her in more than a thousand pages and was instrumental in implementing her recommendations. Her report contributed to a major improvement in the care of soldiers and the establishment of an army medical school and a detailed system of military medical records.


Florence's work has inspired other countries, and during the American Civil War, the Union government turned to Florence for help in organizing field hospitals. She also provided her knowledge to Linda Richard, the founder of nursing in the United States and Japan, in the 1970s, enabling her to return to the United States with the appropriate education and knowledge to establish medical schools.


Florence has excelled in mathematics since she was a child and has become a pioneer in the use of statistics in the field of epidemiology and public health analysis. Under her leadership, the British government has introduced a systematic collection of population statistics.She was also a pioneer in the visual presentation of information and statistical graphs, especially in her reports to members of parliament and officials who did not like to read traditional statistical reports. Among other things, she made extensive use of the so-called "pie" chart, which was created in 1801. In 1859, Florence Nightingale was elected the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society.


Through her hard work, she has become an example not only for England but also for the whole world. Jean Henri Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross in 1864, confirmed that Florence Nightingale was the greatest example for him.


Florence spent the rest of its life promoting the establishment and development of the health professions and organizing them into a modern form. She has been in favor of improving care and conditions in military and civilian hospitals in Britain.


Florence Nightingale died on August 13, 1910 in London at South Street 10, Mayfair at the age of 90. In recognition of her work, she received the Royal Red Cross from Queen Victoria in 1883, which she was awarded as the first person ever. In 1907, she was again the first woman to be awarded the British Order of Merit. Since 1965, May 12 has been celebrated as International Sisters' Day in honor of her birth. He is the second most famous Victorian figure after the Queen Victoria. In honor of her, the Florence Nightingale Medal is awarded, the highest international award a nurse can achieve.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale

Florence Nightingale


(1820-1910)


In the mid-1950s, despite the strong disapproval of her family, she went with a group of nurses to the Crimean War, to take care about wounded British soldiers and despite the hostility of official positions, she managed to significantly improve the situation in the military infirmaries of the time, where soldiers were dying as a result of unsatisfactory hygienic conditions. Thanks to her, hundreds and possibly thousands of soldiers wounded in battle were saved.


In her honor, he established the International Red Cross in 1912 Commemorative Medal - Order of Florence Nightingal, awarded to military nurses in the war.


Her biography here - http://asociace.szsvzs.cz/zena.htm