Florence Nightingale Research Paper

Florence Nightingale, born on the 12th of May, 1820, in Italy, and named after her place of birth, was an English nurse, statistician and social reformer. She became renowned for her services during the Crimean War, where she managed a group of nurses and demonstrated key nursing methods in tending the wounded patients. Today, Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing.

Nightingale was from an upper-class, liberal Unitarian family. She was the younger of two siblings and had an older sister named Parthenope. Her father, William Nightingale, was a wealthy landowner and her mother, Frances, derived from a family of merchants and had an interest in communicating with people of high social standing. The Nightingale family divided …show more content…
The conditions that were experienced in healthcare environments in Scutari (the British base hospital in Constantinople) were horrendous, and many soldiers were dying from the spread of infectious diseases. As a result, Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, who Nightingale met in 1847, sent her a letter in late 1854, which requested her to organise a team of nurses that would tend to the wounded and ill. Nightingale agreed to this request and assembled a corps of 34 nurses, promptly sailing to Crimea. Over the course of the war, Nightingale and her nurses worked diligently to improve sanitary conditions through cleaning linen, preparing more nutritious meals for the patients and supplying appropriate medical equipment. Nightingale also used her mathematical skills in recording statistics to document the ongoing health of soldiers as well as the causes for their deaths. In addition, her responsibilities during the Crimean War provided her with the image as “The Lady with the Lamp”, as she made frequent rounds at night, holding a lamp, to assess the conditions of and communicate with her patients. She even wrote letters to the families of fallen soldiers. Although she was seen as a nuisance by military officers and doctors, the perspectives from Nightingale’s patients had differed. Nightingale’s efforts during the Crimean War resulted in a substantial decrease in the mortality …show more content…
With this newfound fame, Nightingale devoted her life to improving healthcare. Nightingale, with the help of affluent friends, was able to raise £59,000, which she used to establish the Nightingale School & Home for Nurses at St. Thomas's in 1860. Furthermore, Nightingale published “Notes on Nursing: What it is, and What it is Not” along with many other writings which provided quality information on advanced nursing skills. Around this time, Nightingale was also considered a social reformer; she advocated for the healthcare of those living in poverty and even shared her opinions against traditional gender roles- arguing for the removal of restrictions that prevented women from pursuing professional careers. Nightingale achieved many awards for her work, including the Royal Red Cross in 1883 and the badge of honour of the Norwegian Red Cross Society on the 10th of May,

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