In her ninety years of life Florence Nightengale is mostly known for her radical innovations in nursing care. She was a pioneer in nursing and a reformer of methods in hospital sanitation. Florence was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. She was named after the city she was born in. She was raised mostly in Derbyshire, England.
Most Victorian women of her age group did not attend universities or pursue careers. Her father, William Nightengale, however, believed women should get an education. Both Florence and her sister received a thorough classical education from their father. She especially received an excellent education in mathematics from her father and math tutor. She was also well educated in history, economics, astronomy, science, philosophy, and multiple languages. Her mother taught her social skills and leadership qualities.
But Florence became disenchanted with the upper class lifestyle she was born into. When she was young she would care for sick and injured pets. Later she would care for servants who were ill. In 1837, Florence said she heard the voice of God tell her she had a mission. At the time she did not know what it was.
In 1849, she went abroad to study the European hospital system. One year later, she began training at the Institute of Saint Vincent de Paul in Alexandria, Egypt. She then studied at the Institute for Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserworth, Germany. In 1853, she became superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London. She volunteered her services in 1854 in the Scutari after the Crimean War broke out. The minister of war proposed that she assume direction of all nursing operations at the war front.
Through her efforts, the mortality rates among the sick and wounded was greatly reduced. After the war, in 1869, Florence founded the Nightengale School Home for Nurses at Saint Thomas’s Hospital in London, marking the beginning of professional education in nursing. Florence did much to reform the health and living conditions of the British army, the sanitary conditions and administration of hospitals, and the nursing profession.
During the Crimean War, she collected data on improving hospital conditions. Her calculations of the mortality rate showed that an improvement in sanitary conditions would lead to a decrease in deaths. Florence took her statistical data and represented them with graphical diagrams, which were an innovation in statistics at the time.
There was much opposition to the reforms proposed by Florence but her most effective weapon was the presentation of sound statistical data. She showed, for example, the "those who fell before Sebastopol by disease were above seven times the number who fell by the enemy." The opposition could not respond to her statistics and publication of the statistics led to public outcry.
Her study of the data in the Crimea convinced her that many of the deaths in hospitals did not need to occur. The results of her personal studies of army medical statistics were in a report titled "Notes Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army." Her "Notes" made a profound impression, showing the causes of failure and a means by which the country could best provide for the health of its troops in future wars.
When she returned from the Crimea, she directed her attention to hospital statistics, as an aide to administration of institutions for the care of the sick. With the help of physicians, she made a standard list of diseases and a set of model hospital statistical forms.
Her skill in using the statistical method in army sanitation reform led to her election in 1858 to fellowship in the Royal Statistical Society. In 1874, the American Statistical Association elected her an honorary member. Florence was instrumental in the founding of a statistical department in the army.
Florence used statistical methods to study the questions relating to the possible removal of St. Thomas’ Hospital to provide room for a railroad. She showed the probable effect upon patients to the removal of the hospital to the several possible sites suggested.
Florence had proposed gathering statistics during the census to help her sanitary reform. She wanted to enumerate the sick and gather complete data on the housing of the population. She said "The connection between the health and the dwellings of the population is one of the most important that exists."
In 1891 Florence founded at Oxford a Professorship in Applied Statistics. At this time she relinquished active interest in the progress of statistics because of failing physical health.
Florences’ sympathy for the sick and distressed was coupled with a desire to work out what causes disease. She gathered data and analysed statistics. In a time when the collecting, editing, and presentation of data was not commonplace like it is today and when prejudices against women were rife, Florences’ accomplishments were truly remarkable.
In her ninety years of life Florence Nightengale is mostly known for her radical innovations in nursing care. She was a pioneer in nursing and a reformer of methods in hospital sanitation. Florence was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. She was named after the city she was born in. She was raised mostly in Derbyshire, England.