Florence Nightingale Research Paper

Lady with the Lamp

Trinity Alles Having seen the horror of the field hospitals during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was inspired to change how the nursing profession cared for the world’s most vulnerable people: the infirmed, the disabled, and the elderly. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy, to a wealthy English family. In her teenage years, Florence believed that her “divine calling” was to become a nurse. Despite the reservations held by her family, she pursed nursing, enrolling as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. Quickly the demand for nursing staff began to rise as the number of soldiers admitted to

In 1854, Nightingale received a letter from Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, asking her to organize a team of nurses to attend to the fallen and sick soldiers in Crimea. Although they had been warned of the horrid conditions of the military hospital, nothing could have prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they would see when the arrived at the hospital. The hospital was built on a large cesspool which contaminated the water. The building was filled with bugs and rodents, who furthered the spread of diseases within the hospital. Disgusted, Florence Nightingale and her nurses set to out change the standards of care within the

(Queen Victoria, 1856)

Not only was Florence Nightingale bestowed the brooch but the Queen also rewarded her with $250,000. She used the money to establish St. Thomas’ Hospital, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Florence Nightingale put her patients needs before her own. She gave everything she had to help improve the chances of those who were sick and injured. Her selfless actions helped save the lives of hundreds of vulnerable people.

After arriving at the military hospital in Crimea, Florence Nightingale immediately got to work, doing everything in her power to improve the quality of nursing and the sanitary standards of the hospital. Her actions brought change and she set the bar for patient care. In her book, “Notes on Nursing: What it is and what it is not,” Nightingale laid out the five essential points that ensure a sanitary hospital. They