F L O R E N C E

The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe-how to observeIf you cannot get the habit of observation one way or other, you had better give up being a nurse, for it is not your calling, however kind and anxious you may be.

Florence Nightingale was born into a rich, upper-class, well-connected British family on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy, and was named after the city of her birth.

At seventeen she felt herself to be called by God. She announced her decision to enter nursing in 1844 at the age of 24, despite the intense anger and distress of her mother and sister. In this, she rebelled against the expected role for a woman of her status, which was to become a wife and mother.

 In 1851 Florence's father gave her permission to train as a nurse. At thirty-one, she went to Kaiserswerth, Germany where she studied to become a nurse at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses. She served the wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. And was Known as the Lady with the Lamp because of her nightly rounds visiting wounded soldiers. She became a heroine in Great Britain as a result of her work in the Crimean War.

 She established a school of nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in England and wrote many manuscripts about hospital reform and nursing care. She strongly advocated that nursing knowledge is distinct from medical knowledge Her work focuses largely on the patient and the environment, but also includes the nurse and health. She believed that the person is a holistic individual and thus had a spiritual dimension. She recognized nursing of the sick (nursing proper) and nursing of the well (nursing general).

NIGHTINGALES 13 CANONS
1. Ventilation and warmth: The circulating air should be as pure as the outside air and at an adequate temperature to keep the patient warmed. 2. Light: Direct light contains healing properties for the patient and purifies the air of the room. 3. Cleanliness of rooms and walls: Rooms should be kept clean and free of dust/debris associated with the ventilation necessary for health. 4. Health of houses: Maintaining a healing environment goes beyond just cleanliness, this also includes the air, water, sanitation and light.

NIGHTINGALES 13 CANONS
5. Noise: Any loud noise that jars a patient awake and subjects them to a state of excitement is more harmful than continuous noises, however loud. 6. Bed and bedding: The sick should be provided with clean bedding every 12 hours, beds should be narrow and safe in height, positioned in lightest area of the room or near windows, and have adequate pillow support to the head and back to promote breathing. 7. Personal cleanliness: Allowing patients to be soiled and unclean hinders the natural process of health and contributes to the condition in which disease flourishes. 8. Variety: Monotony and redundancy of surroundings are harmful to patients mental state of being, variety in surroundings are most beneficial to health.

NIGHTINGALES 13 CANONS
9. Chattering hopes and advices: Visitors, families and caregivers should not attempt to cheer patients by giving false hopes. 10. Taking food: The amount of food taken and the amount of food needed should always be considered. 11. What food: We shouldnt analyze the types of food, but rather analyze the patients tolerance and system reactions to foods. 12. Petty Management: Knowing what to do when you are there, and what shall be done when you are not there (providing continuity of care through your documentation). 13. Observation of the sick: Observing the patient for indications of condition change, and to know how to judge the importance of such changes.

PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE THEORY

Nightingale believed that the environment could be altered to improve conditions so that the natural laws would allow healing to occur. This grew from empirical observation that poor or difficult environments led to poor health and disease. In her Crimean experience, filth, inadequate nutrition, dirty water, and inappropriate sewage disposal led to a situation in which more British soldiers died in the hospital than of battlefield wounds.

A lot of factors influenced the improvement of her theory. Individual, societal, and professional values were all essential to the development of her work. Nightingale is a very good mathematician (a nurse statistician) and a philosopher. Her aunt Mai describes her as "a woman with great mind." Political leaders like John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Jowett, Edwin Chadwick and Harriet Marinue greatly affects and influence her beliefs of changing things as she viewed as unacceptable to society.

EDUCATION

INTELLECTUALS

LITERATURE

Her political inclinations were from the ideologies of Stanley Herbert (family friend). Also from Charles Dicken's novel "The Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Nightingales influence with Dickens unquestionably served as a factor in her definitions of nursing and healthcare and provided her with a discussion to convey her views about social and healthcare issues.

RELIGIOUS BELIEF

Nightingale believed that action for the benefit of others is a primary way of serving God which is a basis for defining her nursing work as a religious calling. Her Unitarian faith strongly supports the education of a person as a means of developing their divine potential and serving them toward perfection in their lives and service to God.

Natural laws Mankind can achieve perfection Nursing is a calling Nursing is an art and a science Nursing is achieved through environmental alteration Nursing requires a specific educational base Nursing is distinct and separate from medicine

ENVIRONMENT: can be defined as anything that can

Physical components refer to ventilation, warmth, light, nutrition, medicine, room temperature, stimulation, and activity. Psychological components include stimulating the patients mind, avoiding chattering hopes and advices (needless talk or false information), and providing variety.

PERSON: the one who is receiving care; a dynamic

She envisioned the person as comprising physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual components.

HEALTH: She wrote Healthy is not only to be well,

She believed in the prevention and health promotion in addition to nursing patients from illness to health

NURSING: She believed nursing to be a spiritual

She defined three different types of nursing: Nursing proper- nursing the sick; General nursing- health promotion; Midwifery nursing Nurses were to use common sense, observation, and ingenuity to allow nature to effectively repair the patient.

Nightingales theory has been used to provide general guidelines or all nurses since she introduced it than 150 years ago. The concept of nurse, person, health and environment are still applicable in all nursing settings today. In the academe, Nightingales principles of nursing training developed a universal pattern for early nurse training schools beginning with St. Thomas Hospital and Kings College Hospital in London. The influence of this training system and many of its principles are still apparent in todays nursing programs.

Nightingales concepts in her theory are often stated completely and are presented as truths rather than tentative, testable statements. In contrast to her quantitative research on mortality done in the Crimea, she proposed that nurses should based their practice on observations and experiences rather than systematic, empirical research. If Nightingales writings are defined and analyzed as theory, they lack the complexity and testability found in modern nursing theories. Therefore, her theory cannot generate the nursing research that is employed to test modern theories. However concepts that Nightingale identified have served as the basis for current research, which adds to modern science and practice.