Florence Nightingale

• Florence Nightingale revolutionized nursing
• Before Nightingale, hospitals were seen as places of cure rather than care
• Before the 1860s, nurses were not trained and had little respect
• Nightingale's reforms during the Crimean War led to a significant drop in the mortality rate of wounded soldiers
• Upon her return to Britain, Nightingale became a national hero
• Nightingale's impact on hospital care in Britain

  • Design of hospitals following the Pavilion plan for improved ventilation and disease prevention
  • Training of nurses at the Nightingale School for nurses at St Thomas's hospitals, focusing on sanitary matters and cleanliness
• Nightingale wrote the book "Notes on Nursing" in 1859, emphasizing the key role of a nurse and the importance of thorough training
• Nightingale set up the Nightingale School for nurses at St Thomas's hospitals in London in 1860
• Nightingale recommended new hospitals to be built with materials that could be easily cleaned
• Nightingale made nursing a more respectable occupation
• Florence Nightingale


  • Recommended new hospitals to be built of materials that could easily be cleaned, promoted nursing as a more respectable occupation, introduced Pavilion style hospitals, implemented rigorous training for nurses, focused on cleanliness, believed in the miasma Theory, focused on preventing germs from getting in, encouraged modern hospital designs
• Florence Nightingale's improvements

  Changed the role of hospitals from places for the sick to rest to places where the sick were treated
• By 1900, hospitals looked very different from those in Britain in 1700, with separate Wards for infectious patients and those requiring surgery, operating theaters, specialist departments, new medical equipment, cleanliness of utmost importance
• By the early 20th century, physicians still visited the wealthy at home, Cottage hospitals and voluntary hospitals were set up to provide affordable healthcare, poor and disabled were sent to workhouses for healthcare
• Attitudes towards the purpose of hospitals in the 19th century were shifting towards care and cure, quality of care was poor initially, Florence Nightingale revolutionized nursing and hospitals, improved hospital design, reduced death rates, established training hospital at St Thomas's in London, wrote "Notes on Nursing" in 1859
• After Florence Nightingale, nurses were recruited from the middle classes and seen as skilled professionals
• Florence Nightingale was fiercely intelligent and determined, making significant changes in healthcare