History of Nursing: Florence Nightingale

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Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. Even in her early life, Florence would find it necessary to help the sick people in her community. As the years went on Florence realized nursing was her future because it was her divine purpose. Her parents were not enthused by her plans to become a nurse and even prohibit her to pursue nursing. It was frowned upon in this time period of a woman with her social background to become a nurse. It was actually in the rights for her to marry a man of means, but when Florence was seventeen she declined to marry the man who offered her hand in marriage. She had her reasons for not accepting the proposal, she new she did not have time for a marriage at this time in her life. Despite the disapproval from her parents Florence set out to chase her dreams of becoming a nurse and enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserswerth, Germany. After graduating, Florence received a job in a Middlesex hospital for ailing governesses (Nash 1925). Her work ethic was very impressing that after a short time, Nightingale was moved to superintendent of the hospital. The job proved to be just as challenging as it sounded. The outbreak of disease and unsanitary conditions had Nightingale in frenzy. It would be up to her to improve unsanitary conditions and decrease the fast spread of disease. The Crimean War broke out in 1853 with the British Empire against the Russian Empire in order to seize control of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of soldiers were sent out to war and thousands had been admitted into the military hospitals. Due to bad reputations, female nurses were not often hired to work in the military hospitals. However, England soon began quest... ... middle of paper ... ...rican Red Cross: from Clara Barton to the new deal. Sociology Of Health & Illness, 35(8), 1276-1277. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12119 Nash, R. (1925). A short life of Florence Nightingale. New York, Ny: The Macmillan Company. Nightingale, F. (1898). Notes on nursing: what it is and what it is not. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company. Nightingale, F. (1914). Florence Nightingale to her nurses. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company. Post, C. (1997). On the scene. red crossader... Clara Barton. Emergency medical services, 26(1), 64-65. Smith, W. Florence Nightingale 1820- 1910. New York, NY: Mcgraw- Hill Book Company, Inc. The American Red Cross. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org/about us history/clara-barton Burnett, C. (1997). Letters to the editor... Clara Barton Brigade Professional Nurses Union of the ARC... American Red Cross. Nursingmatters, 8(9), 2.

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