Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) revolutionized hospital sanitation and used her command of statistics to advocate for health reform.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Our STEMinist of the day is synonymous with excellence in nursing. Nicknamed “the Lady with the Lamp” she revolutionized hospital sanitation and used her command of statistics to advocate for health reform. Let’s talk about Florence Nightingale.
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 to an upper-class English family. Both Florence and her older sister, Parthenope, are named for the Italian cities where they were born. Growing up in a wealthy family, Florence split her time between the family’s two English estates and was homeschooled by her father. Despite receiving an education, the expectation for Florence was to marry young and start a family. But Florence had other ideas.
When Florence was a teenager, she believed she received a message from God, calling her to work with the poor and the sick. When Florence told her parents she wished to pursue a career in nursing, they were not pleased. At the time, nursing was thought of as a lowly service position, not at all what the Nightingale family had intended for their daughter. Confident in her calling, Florence would not be deterred, and refused to entertain the idea of marriage.
Eventually, Florence’s father gave in and she was permitted to attend nursing school in both Germany and Paris. Florence quickly made a name for herself in the medical community and returned to London in 1853 to serve as superintendent of a hospital that catered to upper-class “gentlewomen”.
In 1854, the Crimean War broke out and the British Army found itself ill equipped to handle the sudden and overwhelming number of injured soldiers. Newspapers began to report on the poor conditions of these facilities which were plagued by overcrowding, a lack of supplies and unsanitary practices. The Army needed help. The Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, contacted Florence and asked if she would lead a group of nurses to treat the wounded soldiers. She agreed, and along with 38 other female nurses, arrived at the British base camp outside of Constantinople, or what’s now known as Istanbul.
Initially, there was resistance to Florence and her team. The doctors were not keen on working with a group of women nurses. But eventually the dire medical needs overwhelmed prejudice and Florence’s nurses began administering support to patients. Florence made quick work of turning around the hospital’s practices. Her team brought in supplies, sourced nutritious food and reinforced sanitation practices. Florence herself was known for carrying around a lamp to check on soldiers in the night, thus earning her nickname, “the Lady with the lamp”. Within six months, the improvements Florence’s team made lowered the hospital’s death rate from forty percent to two percent.
After returning from the war, Florence advocated for hospital reform, employing data and statistics to make her case. Using her success during the Crimean War as an example, she presented her findings and recommendations to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1856. This led to the formation of the Royal Commission to improve the health of the British Army.
Florence was known for her skills with data and statistics. She is credited with creating one of the first pie-charts, and was the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society in 1858. Her advocacy also led to the creation of the Army Medical College in Chatham, England. She captured her expertise in hospital safety in her book, Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not.
In honor of her contributions during the war, the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital was established, along with a fund that allowed Florence to continue educating England’s nurses for years to come. .
Florence Nightingale passed away on August 13, 1910. She was 90 years old.
Florence’s legacy lives on. Two years after her death, the International Committee of the Red Cross created the Florence Nightingale Medal. The award honors excellence in nursing every two years. To this day, ‘International Nurses Day’ falls on Florence’s birthday.
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Talk to you tomorrow!