Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 into a wealthy family in Italy and received an excellent education. She wanted to become a nurse despite the poor conditions in hospitals at the time. After visiting a nursing school in Germany, Nightingale established herself as an expert in hospital reform in England. During the Crimean War, she led a group of nurses and greatly reduced mortality rates among soldiers through her emphasis on hygiene and sanitation. After the war, Nightingale continued her work to improve military and civilian healthcare. She established the first nursing school in Britain and advanced nursing as a profession through her writings, establishing standards of nursing education and practice. Nightingale received many honors for her pioneering work in nursing and was

1. Florence Nightingale Influence in
Nursing

2. • Born May 12, 1820, the second daughter of a
wealthy family, she was named after the city
in which she was born—Florence, Italy.
• Because of her family’s high
social and economic standing,
she was cultured, well traveled,
and educated.

3. • By the age of 17, as the result of training from her father, she had
mastered seven languages and mathematics.
• Florence Nightingale wanted to
become a nurse, but this aspiration
was unthinkable to her family
because of the terrible conditions of
the hospitals at that time and what
we now refer to as the “servant image”
of nursing.
• She continued to travel with her family and
their friends and, in the course of these
travels, met Sidney Herbert and his wife,
who were interested in hospital improvement.

4. • At the time, the public
health movement and
concerns about
hospital reform were
growing across
England. She began
collecting information
on public health and
hospitals and soon
became recognized as
an important authority
on the subject.

5. • Through friends, she learned about Pastor Fliedner’s
institute at Kaiserwerth where care was provided and
nurses were trained. She visited Kaiserwerth briefly in
1850.
• Because it was a religious
institution under the
sponsorships of a Protestant
church, her parents would
permit her to go there, although
she could not go to English
hospitals. In 1851, at age 31, she
spent 3 months studying at
Kaiserwerth.

6. • In 1853, she began working with a
committee that supervised an
“Establishment for Gentlewomen During
Illness.” She eventually was appointed
superintendent of the establishment, a position
she held from August 1853 to October 1854.

7. • After the Crimean War began in March 1854,
war correspondents communicating through
the newly developed telegraph wrote about
the terrible conditions in which the British
Army cared for sick and wounded soldiers.

8. • Florence Nightingale, by
then a recognized authority
on hospital care, wrote to
her friend Sir Sidney
Herbert, who was then
Secretary of War, and
offered to take a group of
38 nurses to the Crimea.
• Her tireless efforts in the
Crimea resulted in greatly
reduced mortality rates
among the sick and
wounded.

9. When the war ended in 1856, Florence
Nightingale returned to England as a
national hero.

10. • Her next major project
involved working to change
the entire approach to
health for the British soldier.
These activities included
constructing hospitals and
improving basic hygiene and
public health measures for
the army.

11. • Her focus was on providing cleanliness,
wholesome food, fresh air, and separation of
people from garbage and sewage both for
living environments and for hospital
construction. These simple public health
measures were revolutionary
in the late 1800s.

12. • After her return from the
Crimea, she experienced
ongoing health problems.
Much has been written of
her illness. Some authorities
indicate that her symptoms
were consistent with
chronic brucellosis, a not
uncommon disease of the
time; others have expressed
the view that it was, to a
large degree, a neurosis;
and more recently, some
declare that it was
posttraumatic stress
disorder.

13. • In addition to her ongoing public health work,
she cared for her mother, sister, and extended
family members; provided nursing to
Holloway villagers; and reformed nursing at
Buxton Hospital where her patients were
admitted (MacQueen, 2007).

14. • Throughout her lifetime, Florence Nightingale
wrote extensively about hospitals, sanitation,
health, and health statistics (creating the first
pie chart), and especially about nursing and
nursing education.
•

15. • Among her most popular books is
Notes on Nursing, published in 1859.

16. • In 1860, she devoted her efforts to the
creation of a school of nursing at St. Thomas’
Hospital in London, established to honor her
work in the Crimea.

17. The basic principles on which Miss Nightingale
established her school included the following:
• Nurses would be trained in teaching hospitals
associated with medical schools and organized
for that purpose.

18. • • Nurses would be selected carefully and
would be located in nurses’ houses designed
to encourage discipline and form character.

19. • The school matron would have final authority
over the curriculum, living arrangements, and
all other aspects of the school.

20. • The curriculum
would include both
theoretic material and
practical experience.
• • Records would be
kept on the students,
who would be required
to attend lectures, take
quizzes, write papers, and
keep diaries.

21. Teachers would be
paid for their instruction.

22. • In many other ways, Florence Nightingale
advanced nursing as a profession.
• She believed that nurses should spend their time
caring for patients, not cleaning; that nurses must
continue learning throughout their lifetime and
not become “stagnant;” that nurses should be
intelligent and use that intelligence to improve
conditions for the patient;
• nursing leaders should have
social standing. She had a
vision of what nursing
could and should be.

23. • Florence Nightingale
received many honors
from foreign governments,
and in 1907, she was
recognized by the Queen
of England, who awarded
her the British Order of Merit.
It was the first time it was
given to a woman.

24. • Florence Nightingale
died in her sleep at
the age of 90 on August
13, 1910.

25. • The week during which
she was born is now
honored as International
Nurses Week.