Development and establishment of nursing abroad. The role of Florence Nightingale in nursing. Florence Nightingale: biography, achievements, activities and interesting facts Florence Nightingale brief history of the development of nursing
Florence Nightingale - sister of mercy, founder of nursing, public figure in Great Britain, author of a number of works on medicine (“Notes on nursing”, “Notes on hospitals”, etc.).
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, where her parents, English aristocrats, were traveling. Being a fairly progressive person, Florence's father made sure that the girl received a comprehensive education, which at that time was available only to men.
Particular attention was paid to the study of languages - French, German, Greek. In addition, Florence was instilled with excellent manners and taste.
As contemporaries noted, she was a very talented person and could apply her knowledge in any field of activity. However, Nightingale dedicated her life to serving people.
Ever since childhood, Florence was deeply concerned about the problems of the disadvantaged. Spending the summer outside the city, she could observe how the lives of workers in weaving factories and handicraft groups proceeded. Rudeness, fights, appalling poverty, the sight of sick and neglected children were forever etched in the girl’s memory.
By the age of 17, an irresistible desire had formed in her soul to devote herself to medicine and somehow alleviate the suffering of the unfortunate.
Such plans did not meet with understanding from loved ones, who believed that the young aristocrat had no use for it. The relatives’ fear was justified: the hospitals at that time were run down and dirty, chaos reigned in the wards, and patients in rags came from slums and shacks.
However, the persuasion of relatives could not shake Florence’s confidence in the correctness of her chosen path. Traveling with her family to different countries, at the first opportunity she inspected medical institutions, getting acquainted with the specifics of their work, and at home she tried to organize home care for the sick and helpless.
In 1849, Nightingale rejected another marriage proposal. “No more love... no more marriage,” she wrote in her diary. Neither the despair of her family nor the anger of her mother could stop the young woman.
She left her home and went to Germany, where in 1851 she began working at a medical institution in Kaiserwerth, which consisted of several wards with 100 beds and a school for children.
There was a strict regime here: deaconesses (servants) had to get up at 5 in the morning and work until late in the evening. But Florence, despite the constant fatigue and hard work, was happy: her dream had come true. She sent enthusiastic letters home: “I’m in Kaiserwerth. That's life. I am healthy..."
After working in Germany for two years, she returned to London, where the Private Benefactors Commission Hospital opened. Florence, full of enthusiasm and a sincere desire to help people, was faced with indifference from the hospital management, who put profit and prestige first and paid little attention to the health of patients.
In March 1854, England and France entered the war with Russia. A close friend of the Nightingale family, Sidney Herbert, who at that time held the post of Secretary of Military Affairs, officially suggested that Florence organize a detachment of nurses to be sent to the battlefield.
She set to work with enthusiasm and, in a short time, gathered a detachment of 38 nuns and sisters of mercy and left for Scutari (Turkey). The picture that appeared before Florence's eyes was terrifying:
The hospital consisted of several dilapidated barracks, dirty and neglected, where there was no linen, no patient care items, no proper medical care.
Nightingale, along with other sisters, began titanic work: they cleaned the barracks, organized hot meals, and cared for the sick.
Florence wrote angry letters to London, in which she spoke about the catastrophic situation in hospitals, shameful for England, about the high mortality rate among the wounded, and mercilessly denounced the organizers of the military medical work, who were afraid of personal responsibility and did not know what to do.
“These are not gentlemen, not well-mannered, not businesslike, not people of feeling,” she said about them. Nightingale herself showed “steel endurance”, perseverance and unprecedented efficiency, and a natural ability to captivate people with her.
Among her nurses there was not one who was afraid of difficulties, and Florence called herself “the main mistress” of caring for the sick and “a servant for any (dirty) work.” According to the memoirs of contemporaries, “she walked around the barracks every night, without fear of any infection.” She was called “The Woman with a Lantern, Bringing Light and Goodness.”
Florence emerged victorious from the conflict with the military authorities. Her activities quickly became known in London. A special fund of 50 thousand pounds sterling was collected, which was placed at her full disposal.
Thanks to this, she was able to organize decent care for the sick, based on the principles of sanitation. As a result, mortality in hospitals decreased from 42% to 2.2%. Over two years of hard work, Florence achieved tremendous success and won the well-deserved love and respect of her compatriots.
Newborn girls were named after her, and her portraits were displayed in store windows. Nightingale's return to England was marked by a gala meeting and reception.
In 1865, Nightingale was tasked with reorganizing the army medical service. The government allocated funds to implement the necessary reforms, so Florence could radically change the situation in hospitals.
And although she often had to deal with misunderstanding on the part of conservative-minded superiors, she still ensured that hospitals were equipped with ventilation and sewerage systems, clearer disease statistics were kept, and staff were required to undergo special training.
One of the magazines of the time wrote: “Miss Nightingale showed what a nurse should be and was: strict and merciful, courageous and restrained in the face of suffering, equally attentive to patients of different classes of society...”
In 1869, Nightingale established a school to train nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Her students received thorough scientific training. Florence emphasized that “at its core, nursing as a profession is different from medical practice and requires special knowledge,” and that “specially trained nurses must take on the task of managing hospitals.”
At this time, at the insistence of Nightingale, awareness-raising work was carried out in the army about the importance of disease prevention.
A year later, Florence published the book “Notes on Nursing,” which radically changed the public’s views on the essence of nursing. Emphasizing cleanliness, fresh air, silence, and proper nutrition, she characterized nursing as “the action of using the patient’s environment to promote his recovery.”
The most important task of the sister, according to Nightingale, was to create conditions for the patient under which nature itself would exert its healing effect. She called nursing an art, but she was convinced that this art required “organization, practical and scientific training.”
In addition, the book revealed some of the psychological characteristics of a sick person and expressed the revolutionary idea that the key to a patient’s recovery is not a successfully performed operation, but constant competent care after medical intervention.
Florence believed that the job of the sisters of mercy was to save the wounded not only physically, but also spiritually: to take care of leisure time, organize reading rooms, and establish correspondence with relatives. Her idea still sounds modern: “We need to look after the healthy so that they do not become sick.”
Florence was the first to show the influence of environmental factors on human health, thus laying the foundations of modern prevention.
The English government highly appreciated Nightingale's services. She found many like-minded people among prominent statesmen: Carlyle, Gladstone, Kingsley. Florence's organizational work has found recognition in many countries around the world. She achieved the opening of schools at hospitals for training nurses and actively taught in them herself.
In 1873, the Nightingale House School of Sisters was opened in New York. Florence's modern contribution to the development of medical care was so highly appreciated. Nightingale herself was awarded the Royal Red Cross in 1883, and in 1907 one of the highest British Orders of Merit.
Nightingale spent the last years of her life alone, entertaining herself by reading the works of Shakespeare, as well as ancient philosophers. She died on August 13, 1910 in London, leaving behind a huge number of medical schools, hospitals and a series of books devoted to medicine: “Notes on Hospitals”, “Notes on Nursing”, “Army Sanitary Administration and Its Reform”.
Florence's birthday - May 12 - is declared World Nurses Day, and the 50 most outstanding of them are awarded every two years by the International Committee of the Red Cross with the Medal named after them, established in 1912. F. Nightingale.
The history of women's ministry to the sick and wounded goes back to the beginnings of Christianity.
When the state of Muscovy appeared on the world maps, voluntary associations of people dedicated to caring for the sick and wounded had already existed in Europe for centuries. From the very beginning of its existence, the Christian Church took upon itself the care of the poor and sick: this responsibility lay with deacons and deaconesses (translated from Greek as ministers).
The Middle Ages created the conditions for the emergence of hospitals and clinics, which were intended not so much for the sick as for wanderers, pilgrims, and beggars.
In the 11th-13th centuries, in many cities of Western Europe, communities of women and spiritual care for the sick were created; hospital brothers and sisters devoted their lives to caring for sick and elderly people.
The tradition of women's medical service resumed in the 17th century in France. Priest Vincent Pol organized the first community and school sisters of mercy in which future sisters received theoretical training. His experience was spread throughout many European countries. This is how it was created Inspug of sisters of mercy- the first attempt to organize sisterhood training.
V. Paul introduced the terms into nursing "sister of mercy", "elder sister".
Nursing experience became in demand by many countries during the period of hostilities.
The Crimean War (1853-1856) required qualitatively new, qualified care for the sick and wounded. The idea of helping the wounded by nurses was a prerequisite for the organization of the Red Cross Society. The founder of the organization was Swiss citizen Henri Dunant. He was amazed by the suffering of the wounded and the activities of the Englishwoman F. Nightingale, N.I. Pirogov and his squad of sisters during the war. The emblem of the society was a red cross on a white canvas (the flag of Dunant's homeland is a white cross on a red one). Fate was not kind to A. Dunant - he died in poverty without ever touching the Nobel Prize. The initiator and inspirer of the creation of the organization was Florence Nightingale.
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 into an aristocratic English family in Florence, where she was born during her parents' travels. The father was in charge of his daughter’s education; he himself taught her languages: Greek, Latin, French, German and Italian, and studied With her history, mathematics and philosophy.
From an early age, Florence was a shy and serious girl beyond her years. The idea of serving in a hospital came quite unexpectedly, like an inspiration. She traveled a lot and studied the organization of work in hospitals. While caring for her family, Florence begins to become increasingly aware of the need special education for nursing for sick people, although Society of that time traditionally believed that no knowledge was needed to care for the sick- performing these functions was the responsibility of every woman. In 1849, she attended the Institute of Deaconesses in Kaiserwerth (Germany) and returned to England with the firm intention of becoming a sister of mercy.
In 1851, Florence, against the wishes of her parents, went to Germany to study nursing. Two years later she became the manager of a small private hospital in London.
In March 1854, England and France declared war on Russia. Florence assembles a detachment of nurses and arrives at the Turkish theater of operations on November 5, 1854. The appearance of women was received by doctors with great hostility - nurses were even forbidden to enter the wards.
Miss Nightingale and the nurses set about titanic work: they cleaned barracks, set up stoves, organized hot meals, washed and bandaged the wounded, and cared for the sick. Florence was dismayed by the immoral behavior and drunkenness of the nurses whom she was forced to send home. After 8 pm, Miss Nightingale forbade all women from entering the wards; during the night hours, nursing was provided by recovering soldiers. Every night she made rounds herself, checking the quality of care for the most critically ill patients. This is how the image of a woman with a lamp in her hand was born - a symbol of mercy and sisterhood.
Consistent implementation of the principles of sanitation and care for the wounded brought results: in less than six months, mortality in hospitals decreased from 42 to 2.2%.
In her book “Notes on Hospitals,” F. Nightingale showed the connection between sanitary science and the organization of hospital business.
The whole life of this wonderful woman was devoted to the development of nursing. And when Florence fell ill with Crimean fever in 1855, the whole country, including Queen Victoria, was worried about the health of the legendary woman.
At the end of 1856, Florence returned to England and organized a fundraiser to create a school to train nurses. In 1860 she opened the first modern nursing school of a new type in London at a hospital. Miss Nightingale's system of nursing education served as the basis for modern nursing teaching throughout the world; her school actually became a model for training managerial and pedagogical levels of nursing personnel.
In her book “Notes on Care” (1860) she for the first time:
■ identified two areas in nursing - caring for the sick and caring for the healthy;
■ gave a definition of nursing;
■ showed the difference between nursing and medicine;
■ carried out an analysis of the influence of sanitary and hygienic factors on health status.
The second half of the 19th century - the emergence of nursing as a profession. From now on, we can talk about a branch of medicine called hypurgia - “patient care.”
In 1883, F. Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross, and in 1907 - the Order of Merit.
In 1901, F. Nightingale went blind. She died in the same year as A. Dunant (1910) and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
The name Florence Nightingale has become a symbol of mercy throughout the world. She dedicated her entire life to nursing. Thanks to this woman, the prestige of the nursing profession was raised; nursing was defined as a science and at the same time an art, requiring certain special training. A monument to her was erected in London.
In 1912, the League of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent established the Florence Nightingale Medal, still the most honorable and highest award for nurses throughout the world. This medal is awarded to the best sisters on F. Nightingale's birthday. The first medals in our country were awarded to two participants in the Great Patriotic War: Hero of the Soviet Union, paramedic Irina Nikolaevna Levchenko and surgical sister Lidiya Filippovna Savchenko.
F. Nightingale's commitment is given by graduates of medical colleges and schools. Graduates of medical universities take the oath of doctor of Russia.
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 into an aristocratic English family. She received a fairly comprehensive education, which was then only received by men. Contemporaries of Florence Nightingale noted that she was a talented person and could realize her abilities in a wide variety of areas of activity, but her choice was medicine.
Florence's desire to serve in the hospital was categorically opposed by the entire family. At that time, degenerate women worked in hospitals and were not hired for any other work. The hospital was a place where patients got worse, not better.
In 1851, despite the protest of her family, Florence went to Germany to a community of deaconesses, which had its own hospital and school for training in caring for the sick. Having passed her exams brilliantly, the girl returned home, and in 1853 she went to Paris to get acquainted with monastic hospitals and undergo training with sister nuns.
After returning home, Florence Nightingale was asked to take over the management of the nursing facility. This infuriated the Nightingale family, and Florence was forced to leave the family and go to England.
At the age of 33, Florence Nightingale took the position of superintendent in an institution for the care of sick women from high society in London, where she fully demonstrated her organizational abilities and professional nursing skills.
In October 1854, during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, along with 38 assistants, went to field hospitals, first in Scutari (Turkey), and then in Crimea. The sisters of mercy saw a terrible picture: the hospital was overcrowded, lice-ridden wounded and sick were lying in the corridors on straw among sewage, rats were running on the floor, there was a shortage of the most necessary things - medicines, linen, food and fuel.
The appearance of women in the hospital was greeted by doctors with hostility. At first they were even forbidden to enter the wards and were assigned the dirtiest work and the most hopeless patients. However, Florence Nightingale managed to prove that the wounded need constant competent care after medical interventions. Consistently implementing the principles of sanitation and care for the wounded, she achieved amazing results. Florence Nightingale organized the work of the hospital in such a way that the mortality rate in it decreased from 49 to 2%. It was she who increased the number of wards in hospitals in order to eliminate overcrowding of the wounded, and organized kitchens and laundries. Florence believed that the job of the sisters of mercy was to save the wounded not only physically, but also spiritually: to take care of their leisure time, organize reading rooms and help establish correspondence with relatives. At night, she walked around the wounded with a lamp in her hand, for which she was nicknamed the Lady with the Lamp.
On her return to England in 1856, Florence Nightingale was tasked with reorganizing the army medical service. With the support of the Secretary of War, Nightingale ensured that hospitals were equipped with ventilation and sewage systems; hospital staff were required to undergo the necessary training; hospitals carried out strict statistical processing of all information. A military medical school was organized, and awareness-raising work was carried out in the army about the importance of disease prevention. In her book “Notes on Hospitals,” Miss Nightingale showed the connection between sanitary science and the organization of hospital business. She resolutely opposed the “corridor system” of keeping patients, defending the need to introduce a pavilion system.
It was Florence Nightingale who created the training system for paramedical and junior medical personnel in the UK.
The school created by Nightingale became a model for training managerial and teaching nursing staff. She insisted that nursing schools be taught by professional nurses and that hospitals be run by specially trained registered nurses. Florence Nightingale believed that nursing as a profession is different from medical practice and requires special knowledge that is different from medical knowledge.
During her career, Florence Nightingale wrote a number of works that provided invaluable service for the development of nursing care. Doctors of that time valued the book “How to Care for the Sick” very highly, considering it an outstanding teaching aid. Having studied the social and economic conditions of life in India, F. Nightingale published a number of articles in which she expressed the idea that prevention is better than cure. In “Introductory Notes on a Stay in an Institution” (1871), Miss Nightingale concluded that childbirth was safer at home, since in a hospital there was a high risk of cross-infections.
Florence Nightingale spent her entire life defending the equal rights of all people to care and treatment during illness and to die with dignity. The British government appreciated her contribution to the development of medical care and awarded her the Royal Red Cross in 1883. In 1907, Florence Nightingale was awarded one of the highest British Orders of Merit.
In 1912, the League of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent established the Florence Nightingale Medal, still the most honorable and highest award for nurses throughout the world.
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Crimea State Autonomous Educational Institution of Secondary Vocational Education of the Republic of Crimea "Yalta Medical College"
SUMMARY ON THE TOPIC:
"The Merits of Florence Nightingale in Nursing"
Speciality: " Nursing"
Discipline Theory and practice of nursing
Performed:
student 2 MB group
Baeva Ekaterina
Scientific adviser:
Bondarenko N.S.
Yalta
2017
Content:
Introduction
1 . Biography
2. Crimean War
3. Activities of F. Nightingale after the Crimean War. Founding of a nursing school
4. Care notes
5. Florence Nightingale Medal
Conclusion
Introduction
The history of the emergence of the nursing profession dates back to ancient times and is associated with such inherent human feelings as empathy, care, the feeling of “love for one’s neighbor,” which at all times forced people to help each other in grief and illness. However, the credit for establishing an independent nursing profession goes to Miss Florence Nightingale (1820-1910).
Florence Nightingale, the first researcher and founder of modern nursing, revolutionized public consciousness and views on the role and place of the nurse in protecting public health. There are many definitions of nursing, each of which was influenced by the characteristics of the historical era and national culture, the level of socio-economic development of society, the demographic situation, the population's needs for medical care, the state of the health care system and the availability of its personnel, as well as the ideas and views of the person formulating this concept.
For the first time, highlighting two areas in nursing - caring for the sick and caring for healthy people, she defined nursing as “maintaining a person’s condition in which illness does not occur,” while nursing as “helping a person suffering from an illness to live as fully as possible.” a life that brings satisfaction." Nightingale expressed the firm belief that “nursing as a profession is fundamentally different from medical practice and requires special, distinct knowledge.” For the first time in history, she applied scientific methods to solve nursing problems. The first schools created on its model in Europe, and then in America, were autonomous and secular. The nurses themselves taught there, paying special attention to the formation of special nursing knowledge, skills and values. Professional values were understood as respect for the patient’s personality, his honor, dignity and freedom, showing attention, love and care, maintaining confidentiality, as well as observing professional duty. It is no coincidence that the motto of the first honorary international sisterhood was the words: Love, Courage, Honor.
Hugh Small. "Florence Nightingale. Avenging Angel" The book opens a new and very critical look at the representative of the British aristocracy Florence Nightingale and her role during the Crimean War between Russia and the allied armies of Great Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey. The book describes the horrific conditions of detention of the sick and wounded in the Scutari hospital, which essentially turned into a “death factory.” Only later, says Hugues Small, did Florence Nightingale understand why about 16 thousand soldiers died in her hospital For more than 100 years, the name of Florence Nightingale has been associated in the history of European medicine. with the honorary title "number one", she is called the first nurse in Great Britain, the first military nurse in Europe, and the founder of the model of modern nursing on an international scale.
Sir Edward Cook. "The Life Of Florence Nightingale"("Life Florence Nightingale»). Fictional biography of Florence Nightingale,
The article: “Sister of all the sick” is dedicated to May 12 - the birthday of F. Nightingale, an artistic retelling of Nightingale’s biography, her most significant achievements. The article also talks about the founding of the F. Nightingale School of Nursing and the establishment of a medal in her honor for services to the field of nursing.
Florence Nightingale. “Notes on nursing: what it is, and what it is not” (“Notes on nursing: how it should be and what it should not”) The main and most famous work of Florence Nightingale. A bestseller when it was published more than 140 years ago, Nightingale wrote this book for caregivers. But very soon it turned out that it is useful to everyone who is interested in issues of health, hygiene and psychology of patients. These qualities of Care Notes make them relevant today.
1. Biography
F. Nightingale was born in 1820 into an aristocratic family. She received a comprehensive education, which only men received at that time. Contemporaries noted that Florence was a very talented woman who could realize her abilities in a variety of fields of activity. She devoted her whole life to serving people.
In 1853, the Crimean War began. When the horrific facts about the situation of the wounded in military hospitals located in Turkey became known, the English government decided to organize a service of nurses led by Miss Nightingale. Having carefully selected 20 women for this mission, Nightingale arrived at the location of the British troops and began work in the hospitals of Scutari. It is noteworthy that at the same time (1854) in St. Petersburg, under the guardianship of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the Holy Cross community of sisters of mercy was founded, who were the first to go to the front to help the wounded. Their activities were supervised by the great surgeon N.I. Pirogov. Thus, in both warring camps there were people who saved many, many lives and cared for the wounded.
At first, Florence’s activities were met with distrust from the surgeons, but the official post she occupied provided the necessary freedom, thanks to which she was able to demonstrate her remarkable organizational talent. Florence's main advantage was that, unlike the male doctors nearby, she understood: the wounded needed constant competent care after medical interventions.
Miss Nightingale and her sisters began titanic work: they cleaned the barracks, organized hot meals, bandaged the wounded, and cared for the sick. Florence created a care system: she increased the number of wards to eliminate overcrowding of the wounded, organized kitchens and laundries. She believed that the job of the sisters of mercy was to save the wounded not only physically, but also spiritually: to take care of their leisure time, organize reading rooms, and help establish correspondence with relatives. On June 24, 1860, the world's first school of nurses was opened in London at St. Thomas's Hospital under the leadership of Nightingale. The students of this school received thorough scientific training. Florence emphasized that “at its core, nursing as a profession differs from medical practice and requires special knowledge,” and that “specially trained nurses must take on the responsibility of managing hospitals.” Using modern terminology, we can say that F. Nightingale laid the foundations of management in nursing.
She raised the prestige of the work of a nurse. Physicians of that time valued F. Nightingale's book "Notes on Patient Care" very highly, considering it an outstanding teaching aid. Her idea still rings true today: “We must look after the healthy so that they do not become sick.” Florence was the first to show the influence of environmental factors on human health, thus laying the foundations of modern prevention.
Studying the life story of Sister F. Nightingale, it is impossible not to be infected by her optimism and faith in people. Miss Florence spent her life championing the equal rights of all people to care and treatment during illness and to die with dignity. The British government appreciated F. Nightingel's contribution to the development of medical care and awarded her one of the highest British Orders of Merit.
For exceptional dedication to their work and courage in providing care to the wounded and sick, both in war and in peacetime, the International Committee of the Red Cross awards the most outstanding nurses with the medal. F. Nightingale. The Soviet Red Cross first nominated candidates for this medal in 1961.
Recently, the view on the functions of a sister has changed. Now the main tasks of a nurse are maintaining health and preventing diseases. F. Nightingale's concept of nursing takes on a new meaning in the context of modern nursing reform.
2. Crimean War
At the height of the Crimean War, on October 15, 1854, British Secretary of War Sidney Herbert sent Florence a letter in which he reported a huge shortage of female care for the wounded in one of the English hospitals near Constantinople. The minister suggested that Nightingale organize a detachment of sisters to fill this deficiency, since the influx of wounded began after the battle on the Alma River. The battle was not a surprise for either the British or the Russians, but neither one nor the other was prepared for it in sanitary terms. Herbert demanded a strict selection of sisters, citing an anecdotal case of an English soldier lying in the hospital, who, when asked by a sister who approached him if he would like her to wash his face, replied: “Excuse me, miss, but I have already promised forty other ladies, that they will wash me." Herbert did not need such stupid work. There was no time to train new professional nurses, so Florence turned not only to the Protestant deaconesses, but also to the Catholic sisters of Vincent de Paul. The latter fact caused indignation among zealots of the purity of the Anglican faith: they were afraid of the conversion of English soldiers to Catholicism. Florence objected, saying that the soldiers did not need religious preaching, but basic care. On the other hand, the leadership of the Protestant communities was dissatisfied with Nightingale's demand to temporarily remove their control over the deaconesses, since Florence demanded strict submission from the sisters to direct military superiors. Ultimately, the 38-member troop included women of both faiths, with the mutual agreement that Catholic sisters would court Catholics and Protestant sisters would court Protestants.
The detachment set off from London on October 21, 1854 and arrived on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in the town of Scutari in Turkey, on November 5, the day of the battle of Inkerman, from where the wounded began to arrive the very next day. Florence served as a nursing staff manager in the East, which is probably where her famous nickname, “Boss Lady,” came from. It operated eight hospitals in the Bosphorus region, the largest of which was located in Scutari. Here, in the barracks, more than two thousand wounded and sick were kept. Subsequently, their number reached five thousand. Those infected with cholera, dysentery, scurvy, erysipelas, gangrene lay mixed up: there was no question of any sanitary conditions, since the sewage system did not work, stench and dirt reigned everywhere due to the lack of cleaning products and lack of water. At the same time, the English envoy to Turkey wrote to Herbert that everything was in perfect order. Local doctors considered it insulting to one’s dignity to seek help from a woman; in addition, Florence was treated with suspicion as an acquaintance of the Minister of War. Nightingale herself characterized the local authorities rather sarcastically: “These are not gentlemen... They have one concern - not to incur responsibility...” Despite a number of conflicts with Florence, the authorities had to come to terms with her presence, since the material and financial reserve , which the sisters brought with them to Scutari, became the only support at the end of November due to the loss of ships with the main cargo for the hospital during a storm.
All hospital affairs are concentrated in the hands of nurses and chief doctors. Florence chose the kitchen as her first object of activity, where, in fact, there were no conditions for cooking. Before leaving for Scutari, Nightingale purchased meat extracts and portable stoves, which made it possible to cook broth. Over time, food in the kitchen began to be given out even as prescribed by the doctor.
Florence began the fight against dirt by arming her sisters with brooms and mops; she supplied the hospital with a large amount of linen, dishes, etc., which she reported to her homeland, not without humor: “I am, in my way, a great trader in socks, knives and forks, wooden spoons, tin baths, tables and benches, carrots and coal, operating tables, towels, soap and toothbrushes, disinfectants..." By the summer of 1855, the mortality rate in the hospital had decreased from 300 to 20 people per thousand patients. Along with the sisters, soldiers' wives worked in the hospital. They followed their husbands and huddled together with their children in the basements of the infirmary. There were more than 200 of these women, and Florence set up a maternity hospital for them.
Nightingale later wrote that her sisters made bandages and treated severe fractures, but she most likely meant assisting during operations or helping in not very difficult cases, since there was no need to talk about any professional medical activities of women at that time.
In the spring of 1855, Florence visited British troops in the Crimea with a sanitary inspection. On the mountain above Balaklava, in memory of the fallen soldiers, she erected a white marble cross. After this trip, she completely overstrained herself and fell ill, but she performed her position for another whole year, until July 1856, when the last patient left Scutari.
Florence Nightingale first appeared in Crimea on April 25-26 (May 7-8), 1855. A few days later, she fell ill with a fever and returned to Turkey. Then she came to Balaklava twice more: in October 1855. and in March 1856, leaving Crimea forever on June 12. In August 1856, when Florence returned from Scutari as a national heroine of Britain, Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, wrote the poem "The Path of Roses" in her honor. In August 1857, Florence became disabled and rarely left her room for the next 11 years. Whether this crisis was caused by physical or emotional reasons is unknown. Nowadays (1995) D.A.B. Young, who specializes in studying the phenomenon of Florence Nightingale, offered an explanation for her illness in an article in the British Medical Journal. In his opinion, Florence could have contracted brucellosis, a bacterial infection, contracted from goat's milk in the Crimea. Brucellosis causes repeated attacks similar to malaria, with symptoms that matched many of Nightingale's complaints, including joint pain, lack of appetite and fever. Brucellosis was not described until the end of the 19th century, and even later its symptoms were mistaken for malingering and neurasthenia. She was haunted by the thought of the death of thousands of British soldiers in Crimea. After the war, she came to the horrifying realization that she herself was probably partly responsible.
The Crimean War brought Florence incredible fame in England: voluntary donations flocked to her sister from all over the country, not only many girls were named after her, but even an entire ship, her portraits were displayed in windows, and Longfellow created the poem “Saint Philomena” with a dedication to Nightingale , where her other nickname came from - “the woman with the lamp.”
3. Activities of F. Nightingale after the Crimean War. Founding of a nursing school
After returning from Scutari, Nightingale actively participated in organizing the sanitary reform of the English army. The new Minister of War, who replaced Herbert, also spoke of her with respect: “This is a thin, pale, graceful woman, inexorable in her demands.” Another contemporary echoed the minister’s respectful review: “She showed us a worthy image of an English soldier instead of the outdated idea of him as a drunken, undisciplined beast. The former nurse, a drunken... hag, also disappeared forever.”
In 1859, Florence wrote “Notes on Hospitals,” after which she began to be invited as a consultant in the design and equipment of new medical institutions. Nightingale, together with other specialists, develops a nomenclature of diseases and hospital reporting schemes, which are accepted by major London hospitals. In 1860, her famous “Notes on Care: What It Is and What It Should Not Be” was published. That same year she set up her own school to train nursing sisters at St Thomas' Hospital in London. Here she used her experience working in Catholic and Protestant communities. Initially, only fifteen test nurses entered the school: the nursing profession, as was said, was still considered not prestigious, and there were few enthusiasts to learn it; in addition, Florence carried out a rather strict selection. The sisters were provided with food, housing, pocket money, and the priest held weekly conversations with them. At Nightingale’s request, a kind of “protocol on moral behavior” was created for each student, where information about discipline, general behavior and even cleanliness was entered. The sisters were required to prepare a daily report on their own activities, although Florence soon realized the futility of such a system: not all students kept registration records, and those who did were not professionally prepared enough. The general management of the school was concentrated in the hands of the chief superintendent; the subjects were assigned to experienced nurses and worked as their assistants for one year, then passed an exam and received a corresponding document on graduation. The students were obliged to remain in the service of their school for the next three years. A similar school using the Florence system was opened thirteen years later in New York. basic principles of the Florence Nightingale School:
1) professional training of nurses should be carried out in hospitals specially created for this purpose;
2) nurses must live in conditions that ensure proper moral behavior and discipline."
For their time, both of these principles were very radical. That they are taken for granted today is testament to Florence Nightingale's great contribution to nursing education, which contributed as much as any scientific achievement to the overall improvement of the quality of health care. Her second passion was statistics, so it is appropriate to cite further evidence of her merits from this area: according to the 1861 census, there were 27,618 nurses in England, and this figure was given in the tables of occupation in the column “Domestic servants”; by 1901 the number of nurses had increased to 62,214 and was listed in the census under “Medicine.”
In the second half of the sixties, Nightingale participated in the sanitary reform of the British troops in India, where a special commission was sent for this purpose; all her reports passed through the hands of Florence, who then wrote the book “How People Can Live and Not Die in India.”
Nightingale's system of care was used during the Revolutionary War in the United States of America, and during the war between France and Prussia, Florence became a consultant on the sanitary part of both belligerents.
In the last years of her long life, Nightingale reconciled with her relatives, but due to the longevity given to her, she remained completely alone, consoled by reading ancient philosophers, especially Plato. In 1907, she was the first woman to receive the Order of Merit from the English king, and three years later she died at the age of 90. In 1912, the League of the International Red Cross established the Nightingale Medal as the highest award for the Sisters of Mercy. By 1995, it had been awarded to about a thousand women, including 46 Russian sisters. And to this day, the ten-pound British banknote has Florence’s image printed on it, something that doctors in other countries were not honored with.
4. Care notes
Her books, especially the famous Notes on Nursing, remained the main textbook for nurses for many years. Now they remain a self-portrait of Florence Nightingale - with her attentive and penetrating gaze, truly English humor and love for a sick person.
Florence outlined the basic principles of her system in the already named “Notes on Care,” which were translated into different languages. The popularity of this book is confirmed by the fact that the Russian translation of 1896 was made from the 28th English edition. In “Notes” she writes about things that now seem elementary and in some ways even outdated, but in the 19th century her statements created a real sensation, since the simplest information about the hygiene and psychology of the patient turned out to be a revelation for many. Later, the principles outlined by Nightingale would become common place in the system of nursing; for example, a similar and equally famous book by the surgeon T. Billroth is largely based on what Florence said.
From the chapter "General notes"
“Every woman is a nurse by nature - this is the belief of the vast majority of people. In fact, the majority of even professional nurses do not know the ABCs of caring for the sick. As for grandmothers, aunties and mothers, often even in educated families they the greatest incongruities are done to the sick - completely the opposite of what should be done.
One must strictly investigate what is usually called "taking measures against disease", i.e. be treated with medications. If a doctor prescribed clean air, cleanliness, etc. to a patient, they would ridicule him and say: “he doesn’t prescribe anything.” In fact, you can never expect the right result from taking medications or from artificial treatment... Taking medications is a secondary matter; The main thing is a correct, hygienic environment and skillful, reasonable care for the sick."
From the chapter "On Noise and Disturbance"
“The noise that is most harmful to the patient is the one that worries him for one reason or another; the strength of the sounds he hears is of relatively little importance. If, for example, there is some kind of construction going on next door, always accompanied by loud noise , then this latter will disturb the patient much less than the talking or whispering in the next room, when the patient is aware that people close to him are talking there.
A conversation conducted in a whisper in the very room of the patient is outrageous cruelty, since the latter inevitably tries to hear every word, which costs him incredible efforts. For the same reasons, you should in no way enter the patient’s room on tiptoe or do any work quietly; you need to walk with a firm step, but as quickly as possible, and in the same way, do not try to reduce the noise during the work being done, but only take care that it is completed as quickly as possible: those who think that slowness and noiselessness are signs of rationality are greatly mistaken nursing; on the contrary, the signs of this are speed, and one must try to do so that the patient can, without the slightest effort, determine what to do from the noise produced.
From the chapter "Concerns about Diversity"
“From personal experience, every person should know how unbearable it is to lie in one place and see the same wall in front of you, without being able to look through the window onto the street. In this regard, the hospital environment is especially depressing
Even experienced caregivers do not care about this at all. They themselves are not bored, but the patients assigned to them are forced to languish in hopeless melancholy, count flies on the ceiling and study the cracks of the plaster. It never occurs to them to rearrange, for example, the patient’s bed so that he can at least immediately see those entering and leaving the room, to occupy him with a pleasant short conversation, to please him with some new product.
From the chapter “On the essence of nursing in general”
“The main art of a nurse is to be able to immediately guess the desires of the patient. Unfortunately, many nurses confuse their duties with the duties of a servant, and the patient with furniture, or in general with a thing that needs to be kept clean and nothing else. The nurse rather must be a nanny who loves the child entrusted to her care and understands all the shades of his voice, warns all his, so to speak, legal demands, knows how to speak to him in such a way that he understands her, although he does not yet know how to speak.
Would you like anything? - asks the unreasonable nurse, to which in most cases seriously ill patients answer:
There is nothing.
It should be noted that a truly sick person would rather endure all sorts of hardships than take the trouble to think about what he actually lacks or in what respect his care is unsatisfactory.
Why repeat the same questions every day: “Would you like some tea?” or: “Would you like to eat your broth now?” etc. After all, the answers to these questions are known in advance, and yet they only irritate the patient.
In general, the nurse should be silent and reserved; talkative nurses and gossips are of little use. The more respectable the nurse, the better. Illness is a very serious matter, and therefore a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable. But first of all, you need to love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity."
About room ventilation and sunlight.
The patient, according to Nightingale, first of all needs warmth and clean air: “Windows exist to open them, and doors exist to close them,” and the nurse should not open the door to the hallway to ventilate the room. The gas jets smoke, and the air is filled with the smell of dishwater and kitchens. You cannot place a chamber pot under the bed, as harmful fumes saturate the mattress, and of course, it is not enough to empty it once a day.
Let the sun flood the sick room, purifying the air: “All sick people turn their faces towards the light, like plants, always turning their leaves and flowers towards the light.” The room should be perfectly clean, for which the floors should be wiped with a wet, not a dry, cloth, waxed, and carpets, which are true breeding grounds for dirt, should be beaten out. The patient himself, of course, should be washed periodically: he sometimes trembles not because of the fever, but because of the underwear that was not changed on time. Feeding must be strictly regulated: even a delay of ten minutes can cause a delay in digestion of food for several hours.
About diversity and lack of noise
Every patient needs variety, the need for which is as strong as the need of a hungry person for food. Thus, one worker injured his spinal column: the illness was severe and long-lasting; before his death, he expressed a desire to look out the window one last time. Two sisters fulfilled his request, although one of them, while holding him, overstrained herself and fell ill with an almost incurable disease.
Noise is harmful to the patient, but not the loud one, but the one that causes him the most anxiety, and it is outrageous cruelty on the part of the doctor to talk in a half-whisper about the patient in his own room; the unfortunate person will strain to hear everything and be nervous, but there is nothing worse than the unknown. The patient must learn to fight his illness himself, and much depends on him, as one doctor well noted: “...When my patient begins to count the carriages in his funeral procession, I take off fifty percent of the healing power of the medicine.”
About advice from relatives and about supposedly ill people
Visitors and relatives should not torment the patient with various advice and instructions on how to be treated. “If I followed them,” wrote one of these unfortunate people, “then I would have to travel to all the resorts ... in Europe, perform all kinds of gymnastic exercises, resort to massage and use all the tonics that are available in pharmacies. Then how... the doctors forbade me from any vigorous movements, all travel and prescribed a strict diet.” The period of recovery, like an illness, is a special state of the body passing through special periods. Both those recovering and those still sick should be treated like children. You need to be able to distinguish between imaginarytruly sick, since the care for both is diametrically opposed. For example, imaginary ones resolutely refuse food when it is offered to them, however, if you leave something edible on the table, they will eat everything they find at night, while a truly sick person will try to brag to the doctor how much he has eaten.
About the qualities of a professional nurse.
When caring for the sick, they often go to two extremes: either they indulge all their whims and do not leave them alone for a minute, or, on the contrary, they limit themselves to purely external things, ignoring the mental state of the wards. Mothers and wives sin first, and nurses and nurses sin second. Care should be reasonable, and, in essence, it comes down to seemingly unnoticeable, but extremely important little things. A caring nurse knows how to read a patient’s eyes, understanding every expression on his face. This does not mean that you have to constantly stare at him: the sister’s personal participation should be little noticeable from the outside, but should be felt even in those moments when she is absent, but everything happens by itself - this is the difficulty of leaving. The patient should be spared strange questions, such as “would you like anything?” - after all, the most painful thing for patients is to think about what they actually want, so in most cases they answer: “No, nothing.” Giving accurate information about a patient based on his own statements is much more difficult than is usually thought. In his mouth, the words “I slept well” can mean ten hours spent sleeping and two hours of dozing during a heavy night. Experience is in acquiring observation skills, not in the number of years of work. You cannot become experienced on the basis of the fact that “it has always been done this way,” and it is nonsense that “every woman is a natural nurse,” since even those who consider themselves professional nurses sometimes do not know the basic ABCs of nursing.
5. Florence Nightingale Medal
Already in adulthood, being a very famous and respected lady, Florence made peace with her family.
In 1856, due to constant overwork, Florence Nightingale suffered a stroke, after which she spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Faithful friend May Smith left her family and children in order to henceforth be constantly with Florence. But most biographers agree that Florence suffered the stroke easily, and her entire disability was nothing more than a pretense. As a result, she was freed from her family, as well as from numerous social events... Her disability freed her from the need to waste time on visits. Florence Nightingale's first book, Notes on Hospitals, was published in 1859. A year later - the second: “Notes on leaving: what it is and what it should not be,” which became a super bestseller. It was in it that Florence Nightingale expressed the basic, main principle of her work: “Illness is a serious matter, and a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable... You must love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity.”
At the end of her life, Florence was left completely alone, since she outlived all her relatives and friends, including the faithful May Smith. Of course, she was rich and famous, she had many fans who devoted their lives to caring for the sick and infirm, and these fans lived in her house, looked after her...
But still the loneliness was felt.
Florence Nightingale died in London on August 13, 1910.
According to her last wishes, she was buried in a simple rural cemetery, and the coffin was carried by six sergeants. A short inscription was made on the gravestone: “F.N., born in 1820. Died in 1910.” Her body was later transferred to London's St. Pavel. It is an interesting coincidence that Florence died in the same year as Henri Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross Society. On the tombstone there were absolutely no words about her merits. Her name, which became a symbol during her lifetime, did not need anything like that.
Florence bequeathed her fortune to the establishment of a medal - for the mercy shown on the battlefield and in peacetime by nurses and nurses, for special courage, exceptional devotion to those whose health was under threat.
On May 14, 1912, at the IX International Conference of the Red Cross, held in Washington, the Florence Nightingale Medal was established in memory of the good deeds of the English nurse, who voluntarily devoted her entire life to caring for the sick and wounded and improving sanitary conditions in hospitals.
Thus, the name Florence Nightingale became a symbol of international charity.
The Florence Nightingale Medal can be awarded posthumously if the recipient dies in the line of duty. This medal was established not to reward a career, but to reward special devotion, high moral character and exceptional professionalism.
Article 2 of the medal regulations states: The Florence Nightingale Medal is intended for registered nurses, voluntary nurses, active members of or regularly associated with their national Red Cross or Red Crescent societies. The medal is awarded to specified individuals who have distinguished themselves, in war or peacetime, by their bravery and exceptional devotion to the wounded, sick, crippled or persons whose health was in jeopardy.
The decision on awards is made by the International Committee of the Red Cross, based on proposals from national societies, once every two years. The medal is awarded every two years on 12 May, Florence Nightingale's birthday. All over the world, more than 1,000 women of different nationalities have received this high award. Among them are 48 women, citizens of states that emerged in the post-Soviet space.
Conclusion
The emergence of new views on nursing was, according to one of Florence’s life writers, due to three factors: religion, war and science. Indeed, the Crimean War gave rise to an outbreak of female patriotism not only in Great Britain, but also in Russia, where, in fact, only from that moment on did sisterhood make itself known to society. On the other hand, Nightingale lived in a period replete with scientific discoveries in the field of medicine - during the era of the emergence of modern hygiene. The religious factor played a much smaller role in Florence’s activities: the necessary religious education of the sisters at the Nightingale school was, rather, a tribute to the previous tradition, since for this woman nursing was significant in itself - it became a profession.
“An illness is a serious matter and therefore a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable... You must love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity.”
List of used literature
1. FlorenceNightingale. Notes on nursing: what it is, and what it is not. Harrison and Sons, 1859.
2.Sir Edward Cook. The Life Of Florence Nightingale. Macrnillan and Co., 1913.
Introduction
1. Biography
2. Crimean War
3. Activities of F. Nightingale after the Crimean War. Founding of a nursing school
4. Care notes
5. Florence Nightingale Medal
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
The history of the emergence of the nursing profession dates back to ancient times and is associated with such inherent human feelings as empathy, care, the feeling of “love for one’s neighbor,” which at all times forced people to help each other in grief and illness. However, the credit for establishing an independent nursing profession goes to Miss Florence Nightingale (1820-1910).
Florence Nightingale, the first researcher and founder of modern nursing, revolutionized public consciousness and views on the role and place of the nurse in protecting public health. There are many definitions of nursing, each of which was influenced by the characteristics of the historical era and national culture, the level of socio-economic development of society, the demographic situation, the population's needs for medical care, the state of the health care system and the availability of its personnel, as well as the ideas and views of the person formulating this concept.
For the first time, highlighting two areas in nursing - caring for the sick and caring for healthy people, she defined nursing as “maintaining a person’s condition in which illness does not occur,” while nursing as “helping a person suffering from an illness to live as fully as possible.” a life that brings satisfaction." Nightingale expressed the firm belief that “nursing as a profession is fundamentally different from medical practice and requires special, distinct knowledge.” For the first time in history, she applied scientific methods to solve nursing problems. The first schools created on its model in Europe, and then in America, were autonomous and secular. The nurses themselves taught there, paying special attention to the formation of special nursing knowledge, skills and values. Professional values were understood as respect for the patient’s personality, his honor, dignity and freedom, showing attention, love and care, maintaining confidentiality, as well as observing professional duty. It is no coincidence that the motto of the first honorary international sisterhood was the words: Love, Courage, Honor.
Hugh Small. "Florence Nightingale. Avenging Angel" The book opens a new and very critical look at the representative of the British aristocracy Florence Nightingale and her role during the Crimean War between Russia and the allied armies of Great Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey. The book describes the horrific conditions of detention of the sick and wounded in the Scutari hospital, which essentially turned into a “death factory.” Only later, says Hugues Small, did Florence Nightingale understand why about 16 thousand soldiers died in her hospital For more than 100 years, the name of Florence Nightingale has been associated in the history of European medicine. with the honorary title "number one", she is called the first nurse in Great Britain, the first military nurse in Europe, and the founder of the model of modern nursing on an international scale.
Sir Edward Cook. "The Life Of Florence Nightingale" Fictional biography of Florence Nightingale,
The article: “Sister of all the sick” is dedicated to May 12 - the birthday of F. Nightingale, an artistic retelling of Nightingale’s biography, her most significant achievements. The article also talks about the founding of the F. Nightingale School of Nursing and the establishment of a medal in her honor for services to the field of nursing.
Florence Nightingale. “Notes on nursing: what it is, and what it is not” (“Notes on nursing: how it should be and what it should not”) The main and most famous work of Florence Nightingale. A bestseller when it was published more than 140 years ago, Nightingale wrote this book for caregivers. But very soon it turned out that it is useful to everyone who is interested in issues of health, hygiene and psychology of patients. These qualities of Care Notes make them relevant today.
1. Biography
F. Nightingale was born in 1820 into an aristocratic family. She received a comprehensive education, which only men received at that time. Contemporaries noted that Florence was a very talented woman who could realize her abilities in a variety of fields of activity. She devoted her whole life to serving people.
In 1853, the Crimean War began. When the horrific facts about the situation of the wounded in military hospitals located in Turkey became known, the English government decided to organize a service of nurses led by Miss Nightingale. Having carefully selected 20 women for this mission, Nightingale arrived at the location of the British troops and began work in the hospitals of Scutari. It is noteworthy that at the same time (1854) in St. Petersburg, under the guardianship of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the Holy Cross community of sisters of mercy was founded, who were the first to go to the front to help the wounded. Their activities were supervised by the great surgeon N.I. Pirogov. Thus, in both warring camps there were people who saved many, many lives and cared for the wounded.
At first, Florence’s activities were met with distrust from the surgeons, but the official post she occupied provided the necessary freedom, thanks to which she was able to demonstrate her remarkable organizational talent. Florence's main advantage was that, unlike the male doctors nearby, she understood: the wounded needed constant competent care after medical interventions.
Miss Nightingale and her sisters began titanic work: they cleaned the barracks, organized hot meals, bandaged the wounded, and cared for the sick. Florence created a care system: she increased the number of wards to eliminate overcrowding of the wounded, organized kitchens and laundries. She believed that the job of the sisters of mercy was to save the wounded not only physically, but also spiritually: to take care of their leisure time, organize reading rooms, and help establish correspondence with relatives. On June 24, 1860, the world's first school of nurses was opened in London at St. Thomas's Hospital under the leadership of Nightingale. The students of this school received thorough scientific training. Florence emphasized that “at its core, nursing as a profession differs from medical practice and requires special knowledge,” and that “specially trained nurses must take on the responsibility of managing hospitals.” Using modern terminology, we can say that F. Nightingale laid the foundations of management in nursing.
She raised the prestige of the work of a nurse. Physicians of that time valued F. Nightingale's book "Notes on Patient Care" very highly, considering it an outstanding teaching aid. Her idea still rings true today: “We must look after the healthy so that they do not become sick.” Florence was the first to show the influence of environmental factors on human health, thus laying the foundations of modern prevention.
Studying the life story of Sister F. Nightingale, it is impossible not to be infected by her optimism and faith in people. Miss Florence spent her life championing the equal rights of all people to care and treatment during illness and to die with dignity. The British government appreciated F. Nightingel's contribution to the development of medical care and awarded her one of the highest British Orders of Merit.
For exceptional dedication to their work and courage in providing care to the wounded and sick, both in war and in peacetime, the International Committee of the Red Cross awards the most outstanding nurses with the medal. F. Nightingale. The Soviet Red Cross first nominated candidates for this medal in 1961.
Recently, the view on the functions of a sister has changed. Now the main tasks of a nurse are maintaining health and preventing diseases. F. Nightingale's concept of nursing takes on a new meaning in the context of modern nursing reform.
2. Crimean War
At the height of the Crimean War, on October 15, 1854, British Secretary of War Sidney Herbert sent Florence a letter in which he reported a huge shortage of female care for the wounded in one of the English hospitals near Constantinople. The minister suggested that Nightingale organize a detachment of sisters to fill this deficiency, since the influx of wounded began after the battle on the Alma River. The battle was not a surprise for either the British or the Russians, but neither one nor the other was prepared for it in sanitary terms. Herbert demanded a strict selection of sisters, citing an anecdotal case of an English soldier lying in the hospital, who, when asked by a sister who approached him if he would like her to wash his face, replied: “Excuse me, miss, but I have already promised forty other ladies, that they will wash me." Herbert did not need such stupid work. There was no time to train new professional nurses, so Florence turned not only to the Protestant deaconesses, but also to the Catholic sisters of Vincent de Paul. The latter fact caused indignation among zealots of the purity of the Anglican faith: they were afraid of the conversion of English soldiers to Catholicism. Florence objected, saying that the soldiers did not need religious preaching, but basic care. On the other hand, the leadership of the Protestant communities was dissatisfied with Nightingale's demand to temporarily remove their control over the deaconesses, since Florence demanded strict submission from the sisters to direct military superiors. Ultimately, the 38-member troop included women of both faiths, with the mutual agreement that Catholic sisters would court Catholics and Protestant sisters would court Protestants.
The detachment set off from London on October 21, 1854 and arrived on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in the town of Scutari in Turkey, on November 5, the day of the battle of Inkerman, from where the wounded began to arrive the very next day. Florence served as a nursing staff manager in the East, which is probably where her famous nickname, “Boss Lady,” came from. It operated eight hospitals in the Bosphorus region, the largest of which was located in Scutari. Here, in the barracks, more than two thousand wounded and sick were kept. Subsequently, their number reached five thousand. Those infected with cholera, dysentery, scurvy, erysipelas, gangrene lay mixed up: there was no question of any sanitary conditions, since the sewage system did not work, stench and dirt reigned everywhere due to the lack of cleaning products and lack of water. At the same time, the English envoy to Turkey wrote to Herbert that everything was in perfect order. Local doctors considered it insulting to one’s dignity to seek help from a woman; in addition, Florence was treated with suspicion as an acquaintance of the Minister of War. Nightingale herself characterized the local authorities rather sarcastically: “These are not gentlemen... They have one concern - not to incur responsibility...” Despite a number of conflicts with Florence, the authorities had to come to terms with her presence, since the material and financial reserve , which the sisters brought with them to Scutari, became the only support at the end of November due to the loss of ships with the main cargo for the hospital during a storm.
All hospital affairs are concentrated in the hands of nurses and chief doctors. Florence chose the kitchen as her first object of activity, where, in fact, there were no conditions for cooking. Before leaving for Scutari, Nightingale purchased meat extracts and portable stoves, which made it possible to cook broth. Over time, food in the kitchen began to be given out even as prescribed by the doctor.
Florence began the fight against dirt by arming her sisters with brooms and mops; she supplied the hospital with a large amount of linen, dishes, etc., which she reported to her homeland, not without humor: “I am, in my way, a great trader in socks, knives and forks, wooden spoons, tin baths, tables and benches, carrots and coal, operating tables, towels, soap and toothbrushes, disinfectants..." By the summer of 1855, the mortality rate in the hospital had decreased from 300 to 20 people per thousand patients. Along with the sisters, soldiers' wives worked in the hospital. They followed their husbands and huddled together with their children in the basements of the infirmary. There were more than 200 of these women, and Florence set up a maternity hospital for them.
Nightingale later wrote that her sisters made bandages and treated severe fractures, but she most likely meant assisting during operations or helping in not very difficult cases, since there was no need to talk about any professional medical activities of women at that time.
In the spring of 1855, Florence visited British troops in the Crimea with a sanitary inspection. On the mountain above Balaklava, in memory of the fallen soldiers, she erected a white marble cross. After this trip, she completely overstrained herself and fell ill, but she performed her position for another whole year, until July 1856, when the last patient left Scutari.
Florence Nightingale first appeared in Crimea on April 25-26 (May 7-8), 1855. A few days later, she fell ill with a fever and returned to Turkey. Then she came to Balaklava twice more: in October 1855. and in March 1856, leaving Crimea forever on June 12. In August 1856, when Florence returned from Scutari as a national heroine of Britain, Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, wrote the poem "The Path of Roses" in her honor. In August 1857, Florence became disabled and rarely left her room for the next 11 years. Whether this crisis was caused by physical or emotional reasons is unknown. Nowadays (1995) D.A.B. Young, who specializes in studying the phenomenon of Florence Nightingale, offered an explanation for her illness in an article in the British Medical Journal. In his opinion, Florence could have contracted brucellosis, a bacterial infection, contracted from goat's milk in the Crimea. Brucellosis causes repeated attacks similar to malaria, with symptoms that matched many of Nightingale's complaints, including joint pain, lack of appetite and fever. Brucellosis was not described until the end of the 19th century, and even later its symptoms were mistaken for malingering and neurasthenia. She was haunted by the thought of the death of thousands of British soldiers in Crimea. After the war, she came to the horrifying realization that she herself was probably partly responsible.
The Crimean War brought Florence incredible fame in England: voluntary donations flocked to her sister from all over the country, not only many girls were named after her, but even an entire ship, her portraits were displayed in windows, and Longfellow created the poem “Saint Philomena” with a dedication to Nightingale , where her other nickname came from - “the woman with the lamp.”
3. Activities of F. Nightingale after the Crimean War. Founding of a nursing school
After returning from Scutari, Nightingale actively participated in organizing the sanitary reform of the English army. The new Minister of War, who replaced Herbert, also spoke of her with respect: “This is a thin, pale, graceful woman, inexorable in her demands.” Another contemporary echoed the minister’s respectful review: “She showed us a worthy image of an English soldier instead of the outdated idea of him as a drunken, undisciplined beast. The former nurse, a drunken... hag, also disappeared forever.”
In 1859, Florence wrote “Notes on Hospitals,” after which she began to be invited as a consultant in the design and equipment of new medical institutions. Nightingale, together with other specialists, develops a nomenclature of diseases and hospital reporting schemes, which are accepted by major London hospitals. In 1860, her famous “Notes on Care: What It Is and What It Should Not Be” was published. That same year she set up her own school to train nursing sisters at St Thomas' Hospital in London. Here she used her experience working in Catholic and Protestant communities. Initially, only fifteen test nurses entered the school: the nursing profession, as was said, was still considered not prestigious, and there were few enthusiasts to learn it; in addition, Florence carried out a rather strict selection. The sisters were provided with food, housing, pocket money, and the priest held weekly conversations with them. At Nightingale’s request, a kind of “protocol on moral behavior” was created for each student, where information about discipline, general behavior and even cleanliness was entered. The sisters were required to prepare a daily report on their own activities, although Florence soon realized the futility of such a system: not all students kept registration records, and those who did were not professionally prepared enough. The general management of the school was concentrated in the hands of the chief superintendent; the subjects were assigned to experienced nurses and worked as their assistants for one year, then passed an exam and received a corresponding document on graduation. The students were obliged to remain in the service of their school for the next three years. A similar school using the Florence system was opened thirteen years later in New York. basic principles of the Florence Nightingale School:
1) professional training of nurses should be carried out in hospitals specially created for this purpose;
2) nurses must live in conditions that ensure proper moral behavior and discipline."
For their time, both of these principles were very radical. That they are taken for granted today is testament to Florence Nightingale's great contribution to nursing education, which contributed as much as any scientific achievement to the overall improvement of the quality of health care. Her second passion was statistics, so it is appropriate to cite further evidence of her merits from this area: according to the 1861 census, there were 27,618 nurses in England, and this figure was given in the tables of occupation in the column “Domestic servants”; by 1901 the number of nurses had increased to 62,214 and was listed in the census under “Medicine.”
In the second half of the sixties, Nightingale participated in the sanitary reform of the British troops in India, where a special commission was sent for this purpose; all her reports passed through the hands of Florence, who then wrote the book “How People Can Live and Not Die in India.”
Nightingale's system of care was used during the Revolutionary War in the United States of America, and during the war between France and Prussia, Florence became a consultant on the sanitary part of both belligerents.
In the last years of her long life, Nightingale reconciled with her relatives, but due to the longevity given to her, she remained completely alone, consoled by reading ancient philosophers, especially Plato. In 1907, she was the first woman to receive the Order of Merit from the English king, and three years later she died at the age of 90. In 1912, the League of the International Red Cross established the Nightingale Medal as the highest award for the Sisters of Mercy. By 1995, it had been awarded to about a thousand women, including 46 Russian sisters. And to this day, the ten-pound British banknote has Florence’s image printed on it, something that doctors in other countries were not honored with.
4. Care notes
Her books, especially the famous Notes on Nursing, remained the main textbook for nurses for many years. Now they remain a self-portrait of Florence Nightingale - with her attentive and penetrating gaze, truly English humor and love for a sick person.
Florence outlined the basic principles of her system in the already named “Notes on Care,” which were translated into different languages. The popularity of this book is confirmed by the fact that the Russian translation of 1896 was made from the 28th English edition. In “Notes” she writes about things that now seem elementary and in some ways even outdated, but in the 19th century her statements created a real sensation, since the simplest information about the hygiene and psychology of the patient turned out to be a revelation for many. Later, the principles outlined by Nightingale would become common place in the system of nursing; for example, a similar and equally famous book by the surgeon T. Billroth is largely based on what Florence said.
From the chapter "General notes"
“Every woman is a nurse by nature - this is the belief of the vast majority of people. In fact, the majority of even professional nurses do not know the ABCs of caring for the sick. As for grandmothers, aunties and mothers, often even in educated families they the greatest incongruities are done to the sick - completely the opposite of what should be done.
One must strictly investigate what is usually called "taking measures against disease", i.e. be treated with medications. If a doctor prescribed clean air, cleanliness, etc. to a patient, they would ridicule him and say: “he doesn’t prescribe anything.” In fact, you can never expect the right result from taking medications or from artificial treatment... Taking medications is a secondary matter; The main thing is a correct, hygienic environment and skillful, reasonable care for the sick."
From the chapter "On Noise and Disturbance"
“The noise that is most harmful to the patient is the one that worries him for one reason or another; the strength of the sounds he hears is of relatively little importance. If, for example, there is some kind of construction going on next door, always accompanied by loud noise , then this latter will disturb the patient much less than the talking or whispering in the next room, when the patient is aware that people close to him are talking there.
A conversation conducted in a whisper in the very room of the patient is outrageous cruelty, since the latter inevitably tries to hear every word, which costs him incredible efforts. For the same reasons, you should in no way enter the patient’s room on tiptoe or do any work quietly; you need to walk with a firm step, but as quickly as possible, and in the same way, do not try to reduce the noise during the work being done, but only take care that it is completed as quickly as possible: those who think that slowness and noiselessness are signs of rationality are greatly mistaken nursing; on the contrary, the signs of this are speed, and one must try to do so that the patient can, without the slightest effort, determine what to do from the noise produced.
From the chapter "Concerns about Diversity"
“From personal experience, every person should know how unbearable it is to lie in one place and see the same wall in front of you, without being able to look through the window onto the street. In this regard, the hospital environment is especially depressing
Even experienced caregivers do not care about this at all. They themselves are not bored, but the patients assigned to them are forced to languish in hopeless melancholy, count flies on the ceiling and study the cracks of the plaster. It never occurs to them to rearrange, for example, the patient’s bed so that he can at least immediately see those entering and leaving the room, to occupy him with a pleasant short conversation, to please him with some new product.
From the chapter “On the essence of nursing in general”
“The main art of a nurse is to be able to immediately guess the desires of the patient. Unfortunately, many nurses confuse their duties with the duties of a servant, and the patient with furniture, or in general with a thing that needs to be kept clean and nothing else. The nurse rather must be a nanny who loves the child entrusted to her care and understands all the shades of his voice, warns all his, so to speak, legal demands, knows how to speak to him in such a way that he understands her, although he does not yet know how to speak.
Would you like anything? - asks the unreasonable nurse, to which in most cases seriously ill patients answer:
There is nothing.
It should be noted that a truly sick person would rather endure all sorts of hardships than take the trouble to think about what he actually lacks or in what respect his care is unsatisfactory.
Why repeat the same questions every day: “Would you like some tea?” or: “Would you like to eat your broth now?” etc. After all, the answers to these questions are known in advance, and yet they only irritate the patient.
In general, the nurse should be silent and reserved; talkative nurses and gossips are of little use. The more respectable the nurse, the better. Illness is a very serious matter, and therefore a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable. But first of all, you need to love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity."
About room ventilation and sunlight.
The patient, according to Nightingale, first of all needs warmth and clean air: “Windows exist to open them, and doors exist to close them,” and the nurse should not open the door to the hallway to ventilate the room. The gas jets smoke, and the air is filled with the smell of dishwater and kitchens. You cannot place a chamber pot under the bed, as harmful fumes saturate the mattress, and of course, it is not enough to empty it once a day.
Let the sun flood the sick room, purifying the air: “All sick people turn their faces towards the light, like plants, always turning their leaves and flowers towards the light.” The room should be perfectly clean, for which the floors should be wiped with a wet, not a dry, cloth, waxed, and carpets, which are true breeding grounds for dirt, should be beaten out. The patient himself, of course, should be washed periodically: he sometimes trembles not because of the fever, but because of the underwear that was not changed on time. Feeding must be strictly regulated: even a delay of ten minutes can cause a delay in digestion of food for several hours.
About diversity and lack of noise
Every patient needs variety, the need for which is as strong as the need of a hungry person for food. Thus, one worker injured his spinal column: the illness was severe and long-lasting; before his death, he expressed a desire to look out the window one last time. Two sisters fulfilled his request, although one of them, while holding him, overstrained herself and fell ill with an almost incurable disease.
Noise is harmful to the patient, but not the loud one, but the one that causes him the most anxiety, and it is outrageous cruelty on the part of the doctor to talk in a half-whisper about the patient in his own room; the unfortunate person will strain to hear everything and be nervous, but there is nothing worse than the unknown. The patient must learn to fight his illness himself, and much depends on him, as one doctor well noted: “...When my patient begins to count the carriages in his funeral procession, I take off fifty percent of the healing power of the medicine.”
About advice from relatives and about supposedly ill people
The period of recovery, like an illness, is a special state of the body passing through special periods. Both those recovering and those still sick should be treated like children. You need to be able to distinguish between imaginary and truly sick people, since caring for both is diametrically opposed. For example, imaginary ones resolutely refuse food when it is offered to them, however, if you leave something edible on the table, they will eat everything they find at night, while a truly sick person will try to brag to the doctor how much he has eaten.
About the qualities of a professional nurse.
When caring for the sick, they often go to two extremes: either they indulge all their whims and do not leave them alone for a minute, or, on the contrary, they limit themselves to purely external things, ignoring the mental state of the wards. Mothers and wives sin first, and nurses and nurses sin second. Care should be reasonable, and, in essence, it comes down to seemingly unnoticeable, but extremely important little things. A caring nurse knows how to read a patient’s eyes, understanding every expression on his face. This does not mean that you have to constantly stare at him: the sister’s personal participation should be little noticeable from the outside, but should be felt even in those moments when she is absent, but everything happens by itself - this is the difficulty of leaving. The patient should be spared strange questions, such as “would you like anything?” - after all, the most painful thing for patients is to think about what they actually want, so in most cases they answer: “No, nothing.” Giving accurate information about a patient based on his own statements is much more difficult than is usually thought. In his mouth, the words “I slept well” can mean ten hours spent sleeping and two hours of dozing during a heavy night. Experience is in acquiring observation skills, not in the number of years of work. You cannot become experienced on the basis of the fact that “it has always been done this way,” and it is nonsense that “every woman is a natural nurse,” since even those who consider themselves professional nurses sometimes do not know the basic ABCs of nursing.
5. Florence Nightingale Medal
Already in adulthood, being a very famous and respected lady, Florence made peace with her family.
In 1856, due to constant overwork, Florence Nightingale suffered a stroke, after which she spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Faithful friend May Smith left her family and children in order to henceforth be constantly with Florence. But most biographers agree that Florence suffered the stroke easily, and her entire disability was nothing more than a pretense. As a result, she was freed from her family, as well as from numerous social events... Her disability freed her from the need to waste time on visits. Florence Nightingale's first book, Notes on Hospitals, was published in 1859. A year later - the second: “Notes on leaving: what it is and what it should not be,” which became a super bestseller. It was in it that Florence Nightingale expressed the basic, main principle of her work: “Illness is a serious matter, and a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable... You must love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity.”
At the end of her life, Florence was left completely alone, since she outlived all her relatives and friends, including the faithful May Smith. Of course, she was rich and famous, she had many fans who devoted their lives to caring for the sick and infirm, and these fans lived in her house, looked after her...
But still the loneliness was felt.
Florence Nightingale died in London on August 13, 1910.
According to her last wishes, she was buried in a simple rural cemetery, and the coffin was carried by six sergeants. A short inscription was made on the gravestone: “F.N., born in 1820. Died in 1910.” Her body was later transferred to London's St. Pavel. It is an interesting coincidence that Florence died in the same year as Henri Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross Society. On the tombstone there were absolutely no words about her merits. Her name, which became a symbol during her lifetime, did not need anything like that.
Florence bequeathed her fortune to the establishment of a medal - for the mercy shown on the battlefield and in peacetime by nurses and nurses, for special courage, exceptional devotion to those whose health was under threat.
On May 14, 1912, at the IX International Conference of the Red Cross, held in Washington, the Florence Nightingale Medal was established in memory of the good deeds of the English nurse, who voluntarily devoted her entire life to caring for the sick and wounded and improving sanitary conditions in hospitals.
Thus, the name Florence Nightingale became a symbol of international charity.
The Florence Nightingale Medal can be awarded posthumously if the recipient dies in the line of duty. This medal was established not to reward a career, but to reward special devotion, high moral character and exceptional professionalism.
Article 2 of the medal regulations states: The Florence Nightingale Medal is intended for registered nurses, voluntary nurses, active members of or regularly associated with their national Red Cross or Red Crescent societies. The medal is awarded to specified individuals who have distinguished themselves, in war or peacetime, by their bravery and exceptional devotion to the wounded, sick, crippled or persons whose health was in jeopardy.
The decision on awards is made by the International Committee of the Red Cross, based on proposals from national societies, once every two years. The medal is awarded every two years on 12 May, Florence Nightingale's birthday. All over the world, more than 1,000 women of different nationalities have received this high award. Among them are 48 women, citizens of states that emerged in the post-Soviet space.
Conclusion
Reasons for the emergence of a professional care system.
The emergence of new views on nursing was, according to one of Florence’s life writers, due to three factors: religion, war and science. Indeed, the Crimean War gave rise to an outbreak of female patriotism not only in Great Britain, but also in Russia, where, in fact, only from that moment on did sisterhood make itself known to society. On the other hand, Nightingale lived in a period replete with scientific discoveries in the field of medicine - during the era of the emergence of modern hygiene. The religious factor played a much smaller role in Florence’s activities: the necessary religious education of the sisters at the Nightingale school was, rather, a tribute to the previous tradition, since for this woman nursing was significant in itself - it became a profession.
“An illness is a serious matter and therefore a frivolous attitude towards it is unforgivable... You must love the work of caring for the sick, otherwise it is better to choose another type of activity.”
List of used literature
1. Florence Nightingale. Notes on nursing: what it is, and what it is not. Harrison and Sons, 1859.
2.Sir Edward Cook. The Life Of Florence Nightingale. Macrnillan and Co., 1913.
3. Helen M. Walker.Studies in the history of statistical method, with special reference to certain educational
problems. The Williams and Wilkins Company, 1929.
4.John M. Eyler. Victorian social medicine: the ideas and methods of William Farr. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979
5.S.A. Mukhina, I.I. Tarkovskaya Theoretical foundations of nursing, part I II 1996, Moscow
6. Hugh Small. "Florence Nightingale. Avenging Angel"
7. Magazine “Peasant Woman” May, 2008 Heading: Big History, article: “Sister of all the sick”
