Florence Nightingale Research Paper

Her mind was increasingly drawn to the reform of nursing. To understand why this was such an area of interest, you need to have an understanding of the state of nursing when Florence Nightingale was a young woman. At that time, nursing was seen as the very lowest of vocations. Most nurses were alcoholics; they were permitted and were expected to drink alcohol while they worked. Many of them were also prostitutes. It was customary for young women of low social class to look to a life of prostitution and nursing, with the consumption of large amounts of alcohol to make the other two occupations seem a little more bearable. The average nurse when Florence was a young woman would think nothing of combining her three occupational interests in

She and her family were not titled, but they were of that new nobility – the bourgeoisie. Nightingale’s family were the very pinnacle of English middle-class society, and moved in high circles in English society. They were very conservative in many ways, but surprisingly liberal in others. As an example of their liberalism, Florence’s father took charge of the education of both his daughters and ensured that they were extremely well educated. Florence was, for example, fluent in many languages although her particular gift and love was mathematics. In respect of their conservatism, it was always expected that Florence (both wealthy and attractive) would marry and become a wealthy Victorian housewife.

So when young Florence rejected several handsome and attractive suitors, and announced her intention to become a nurse, society in general and her family in particular, were scandalised. It was too appalling to contemplate. So it was that Florence found herself leading a team of nurses at the British military hospital at Scutari. Although she is always remembered as a nurse, her real gift at Scutari was hospital administration. She organised things; she made things

Less well known is her enormous contribution in other areas. To examine but a few of these, her contribution to statistical thought, particularly as applied to health-care, was astonishing. She was, for example, the first person to use pie charts in health sciences. She used pie charts for a reason. They fulfilled her belief that statistical data should be easily accessible to the average intelligent person. She liked to apply what she called privately “the Queen Victoria test”. She would look at a diagrammatic representation of data, and ask herself would The Queen understand the point that was being made by the data. In this theory of statistical information she was opposed by many statisticians of her day, led by William Farr. Farr held that data should be presented dry, without interpretation, in a series of tables. The two of them maintained this debate in a series of papers and addresses to statistical meetings over many