Florence Nightingale example essay topic

Florence Nightingale is best known for her radical innovations in nursing care. She was a pioneer in nursing and a reformer of hospital sanitation methods. For most of her life, Florence pushed for reform of the British military health-care system. With that, the nursing profession started gaining the respect it deserved. Besides being a nurse and reformer, Florence Nightingale was a statistician. She would use new techniques of statistical analysis and apply them to her life's work, such as during the Crimean War when she documented the occurrence of preventable deaths in the military.

She developed the "polar-area diagram" to dramatize the preventable deaths caused by unsanitary conditions. With her analysis, Florence Nightingale revolutionized the idea that social dilemmas could be objectively measured and subjected to mathematical analysis. She was an innovator in the collection, formulation, and graphical display of statistics. The achievements set forth by Florence Nightingale were amazing considering most Victorian women did not attend universities or pursue professional careers. Her reform efforts occurred in part because she was frustrated with the conditions in England that limited women's life choices to marriage, indolence, or servitude. Her frustration's extended also to the social conditions of most of England's citizens: abject poverty or affluence.

Born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820, in the Villa Colombia, near Porta Romana, Florence was named after the city she was born in. After her birth, the Nightingale family moved to England and settled down in her fathers inherited estate. Although later, her father William Edward Nightingale had a house built for the family in the village of Lea. The house was called the Lea Hurst and served as the summer home to the Nightingale family for the rest of Florence Nightingale's life. In 1825, the Nightingale family moved to a mansion named Emily Park in the Parish of Wellow, in Hampshire. This became the family's main home.

Around this same time, and at the early age of five, Florence Nightingale's father began seriously educating both Florence and her older sister, Parthenope. Her father, William Nightingale believed women, especially his children, should get an education. Though both daughters were educated in history, economics, astronomy, science, philosophy, and multiple languages, Florence received an extensive education in mathematics from her father, her aunt Mai and from James Sylvester, her math tutor. Frances, her mother, taught her social skills and leadership qualities. She believed ladies did not need to be educated especially in mathematics. Florence soon became dissatisfied with the upper class lifestyle she was born into.

While growing up, she would care for sick and injured pets. Later she would care for servants who were ill. In 1837, Florence said she heard the voice of God tell her she had a mission. Although she did not know what this mission was Florence chose not to follow her heart and desire into the society of marriage. She stated that marriage would destroy her chance of serving God's call. She would later discover this calling.

In June 1839, Florence and her sister were presented at Queen Victoria's birthday party. This was the first meeting between Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria, but would not be the last. The Queen would later become fascinated with the knowledge and education Florence had acquired. In 1849, Florence went abroad to study the European hospital system. One year later, she began training at the Institute of Saint Vincent de Paul in Alexandria, Egypt. She then visited the Institute for Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiser worth, Germany.

While there, she was asked to write a pamphlet on "The Institute of Kaiserwerth", by the Rev. Pastor Theodore Flied ner. She did but declined any recognition for her work. Soon after, she wrote 12-page, hand written "curriculum" stating her reasons for wanting to be a nurse. She became a probationer (student) in the nursing program at Kaiserwerth. Then in 1853, God again spoke to Florence, asking her if she would do well for him without any reputation.

She decided to serve him by serving the "sick poor". Her father supported her with a yearly allowance of 500 pounds, which is equivalent to 40 to $50,000 dollars by today's standards. Florence went into residence in her first situation (job) and became the superintendent of a London "Establishment for Gentlewomen During Illness", but was unpaid for her services. Then in 1854, the Crimean War began. England, France and Sardinia came to the aid of Turkey against Russia. Sidney Herbert, the Secretary of War asked Florence to nurse the wounded British soldiers.

After accepting, she assembled a party of thirty-eight nurses and went to Scutari, Turkey to the Barrack Hospital. There, she assumed direction of all nursing operations at the war front. When she first arrived at Scutari, Florence noticed no proper records were being kept. She introduced a system of recording the sickness and mortality data of the military hospitals. The system allowed her to plead her cases successfully. The military officials and doctors in charge of the facility were allowing rats, fleas, and contamination to kill wounded soldiers.

But fighting the generals and male doctors who disliked a woman telling them what to do, was almost worse than cleaning the filth. However, this was Florence's opportunity to show the value of female nurses in military hospitals. Florence Nightingale was nickname "The Lady of the Lamp" for her nightly walks through the wards. Because she personally checked on every patient, the mortality rate of the wounded dropped from 40% to an astounding 2%. Florence was instrumental in getting the conditions of the hospital improved. No longer would the wounded die due to unsanitary conditions.

Nonetheless, all during her stay, Generals, other officers and doctors tried desperately to remove her from leadership because they felt inferior to her. Florence's managerial skills were often better than those of many officers in the army. But she prevailed with the help of Queen Victoria who could reach statistics and be informed without a male ego getting into the way. After the war and upon the Queen's request, Florence visited Queen Victoria to talk about her war experiences. The Queen and Florence agreed upon a need to correct wrong doings during the war. The government then issued a warrant (commission) to investigate the disasters of the Crimean War.

This was a kind of high-level independent committee that evaluated problems, come to a consensus, and then recommended changes. But because Florence was a woman, she could not be recognized or testify to this committee about her experiences. Instead, she wrote and compiled her findings and facts to them. During Nightingale's time at Scutari, she had collected data and systematized record-keeping practices.

Her study of the data in the Crimea convinced her that many of the deaths in hospitals did not need to occur. The results of her personal studies of army medical statistics were in a report titled "Notes Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army". Her "Notes" made a profound impression, showing the causes of failure and a means by which the country could best provide for the health of its troops in future wars. Florence was able to use the data as a tool for improving city and military hospitals. Her calculations of the mortality rate showed that with an improvement of sanitary methods, deaths would decrease.

For instance, in February 1855, the death rate at the hospital was 42.7 percent of the cases treated. When Florence's sanitary reform was implemented, that rate tremendously decreased. She took her statistical data and represented it graphically. She had invented polar-area charts. These charts showed the statistics being represented was proportional to the area of a wedge in a circular diagram. The graphical illustrations portrayed, by means of shaded or colored squares, circles and wedges, (1) the deaths due to preventable causes in the hospitals during the Crimean War and (2) the rate of mortality in the British Army at home.

As Florence demonstrated, statistics provided an organized way of learning. Because of this learning, medical and surgical practices improved and Florence Nightingale became a heroine for her work during the Crimean war. She was also known as the first nurse researcher. She also developed a Model Hospital Statistical Form for hospitals to collect and generate consistent data and statistics. Her skill in using the statistical method in army sanitation reform led to her election in 1858 to fellowship in the Royal Statistical Society.

In 1874, the American Statistical Association elected her an honorary member. Nightingale was instrumental in the founding of a statistical department in the army. Through reading she became an expert on public health care and when Britain invaded India during the Sepoy Rebellion, she became the recognized expert in healthcare and supervised it's nursing. So began her life-long project to sanitize the country.

Also during this time, Florence became ill. She was diagnosed with what we call today, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. After Florence became ill, she never made a public appearance, never attended a public function, and never issued a public statement. Florence Nightingale had become completely reclusive. The years following, she conducted a huge correspondence from her bed: seeing people by appointment and only one at a time. Although she was bedridden, and with the help of her newly invented polar area diagram, Florence was still able to sell her ideas about healthcare and sanitation reform.

This practice had never been done before and is common practice now. Florence later established the Nightingale School for Nurses, at St. Thomas Infirmary: the first professional nursing school in the world. Florence paid very close attention to every detail of the school from her flat in London. Florence Nightingale almost single handedly invented modern nursing, as we know it today.

Although her illness had secluded her, Florence accomplished many other works as well. She published a small booklet titled, "Notes in Nursing", which became so popular; it expanded and was published again with a special section on, "Taking care of babies". Florence also published her "Observations" concerning the sanitation problems in India and later publishes "Notes on Lying in Hospitals". Also from her flat in London, Florence worked on setting up a home nursing system, hospitals for births, hospitals for the insane and poor, and she also helped to stop the practice of putting all the "sick poor" together. This included men, women, children, the insane and the sane.

Then in around 1902, at the age of eighty-two Florence became very ill and could no longer read or write except with great difficulty. So she accepted the services of a companion / housekeeper /nurse. This help became constant for the rest of her life. After more than eighty years of helping people, in November the year 1907, King Edward bestowed the Order of Merit to Florence Nightingale.

This was the first time the Order had been given to a woman. Around the same year she began to go blind and her health gradually failed her. After 1910 at the age of ninety, Florence could no longer speak. The end came for her on August 13, 1910 when she fell asleep and did not wake again. Upon her death, the King offered to give her a national funeral and burial but it was her wish before she died that her burial be like anyone else's.

She was buried in the family grave at East Wellow and six sergeants of the British Army carried her coffin. The engraving on her tombstone simply reads, Florence Nightingale born 1820- died 1910. She lived ninety-three years and three months. She is honored each year in a commemorative service at St. Margaret's Church, where she is buried. Florence Nightingale has been called many things throughout her lifetime, timeless, The Lady of the Lamp, even a saintly woman. She was even the subject of poetry and songs.

There are also so many quotes from her that made a profound impression on many people. "You can arrest in some degree the course of the knave, but with the fool you don't know where you will find him next", and "To be a good nurse one must be a good woman, or one is truly nothing but a tinkling bell". -Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing. She saved millions of lives, establishing her with a place in history. Many of her suggestions, theories and practices have been documented as scientifically sound when tested with the application methods of modern research.

Florence Nightingale made it possible for people not only in her time, but also in the twentieth century to live longer, healthier and more vibrant lives. Florence Nightingale was a true Godsend.