Florence Nightingale and 19th century hospitals

    Cards (15)

    • Before Florence Nightingale, nursing had little status and training, hospitals were cramped and diseases spread quickly, and nurses had a bad reputation as being drunk and unprofessional
    • In the 19th century, attitudes towards the role of hospitals were beginning to change - they were seen less as places of rest and more as places of cure
    • Problems with hospitals before Nightingale

      • Little funding
      • Nurses had little status and training
      • Wealthy preferred to be treated at home
      • Hospitals were cramped
      • Diseases spread quickly
      • Wards were rarely properly cleaned
      • Toilet facilities were bad
    • Before the 1860s, nurses were not trained and people did not respect them
    • The cartoon "The Nurse Old Style" from 1879 shows how nurses used to be viewed before Nightingale's reforms - as old, lazy, and unprofessional
    • Nightingale's impact during the Crimean War

      • She convinced the government to send her and 38 other nurses to improve the hospitals
      • She demanded 300 scrubbing brushes to get rid of dirt
      • Nurses were organized to treat nearly 2,000 wounded soldiers
      • Clean bedding and good meals were provided
      • Mortality rate dropped from 40% to 2%
    • Nightingale's experience and popularity in the Crimean War gave her credibility to make changes in hospitals in Britain
    • Nightingale's changes to hospital design and nurse training

      • Preferred the Pavilion plan with improved ventilation, large rooms, and separate isolation wards
      • Wrote "Notes on Nursing" in 1859 setting out the key role of a nurse and the importance of thorough training
      • Set up the Nightingale School for nurses at St Thomas's Hospital in 1860, training them mainly on sanitary matters and keeping wards clean
      • Recommended new hospitals be built with materials that could easily be cleaned, like tiles and painted walls
    • Nightingale made nursing seem like a more respectable occupation, as nurses were now recruited from the middle classes rather than the working class
    • By 1900, hospitals looked very different from the 1700s, with separate wards for infectious patients, operating theatres, and specialist departments for new medical equipment
    • Cleanliness was now of the utmost importance in hospitals, though Nightingale was a believer in the miasma theory rather than germ theory
    • Doctors were a common sight in hospitals by 1900, with junior doctors getting more hands-on experience
    • Hospitals had become places where the sick were treated, rather than just places for them to rest
    • By the 20th century, cottage hospitals and voluntary hospitals were set up to provide affordable healthcare, though the poor and disabled still often had to rely on workhouse infirmaries
    • Florence Nightingale was a fiercely intelligent and determined woman who revolutionized nursing and hospitals, though she was also seen as an "angelic" figure by her patients
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