Florence nightingale theory

In celebration of the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the Nursing Archives Associates of the Boston University Libraries’ Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center held an essay contest, open to nursing students enrolled at all levels of study— undergraduate, master’s and doctoral – and focused on Florence Nightingale’s influence on the evolution of nursing, both historical and contemporary. Although all Nightingale 2020 events were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud to announce the winner of the Muriel A. Poulin Nursing Student Essay Contest. The winning essay is titled “ In her Notes on Nursing (1969), Florence Nightingale argued that nature alone can cure the sick. Cautioning against an over-reliance on medical care, which could do nothing more than remove obstructions to the natural healing process, Nightingale encouraged nurses to put patients in the best possible conditions for nature to act upon them. Her environmental theory highlighted the importance of cleanliness, ventilation, limited noise, uninterrupted sleep, proper nutrition, and sunlight in promoting recovery of the sick (Hegge, 2013; Nightingale, 1969). Within this perspective, the role of the nurse was to provide an environment conducive to healing, support the patient in the healing process, and carefully observe the patient for signs of improvement or decline. Certainly when Nightingale cautioned against an over-reliance on medical care, she could little have imagined the tr...

Background The work of Florence Nightingale has laid the foundation for contemporary nursing practice, bringing the fundamental art and science of nursing into the 21st century. Her Environmental Theory was the beginning of a lifetime's work, being one of her many healthcare reforms which survive to this day as the practice of infection control. Conclusion Contemporary infection control is now an integral part of nursing and nursing practice the world over. It is an essential part of creating safe environments that help to promote good healing, good health and wellbeing and good patient outcomes, along with the opportunity for continued development to keep in step with changing patient and global need. • Previous article in issue • Next article in issue

Notes on Nursing, Nightingale had an enormous impact on the field of nursing. In its earliest form, nursing was a practice carried out primarily by nuns, military personnel, and women who volunteered to work in hospitals to care for the sick and injured.. However, there were no standards or regulation for nursing as a practice, so it was not recognized as a formal profession. While working as a nurse in a military hospital during wartime, Nightingale saw the conditions injured soldiers faced while receiving medical care. She observed a direct correlation between the sanitary conditions of patients and their health and recovery. That is, patients whose sanitary conditions were bad often faced additional health problems or did not recover from their wounds. These observations led to one major way Nightingale contributed to the modern practice of nursing and medicine. She worked to create sanitary conditions for patients. Not only did this include keeping the patient clean, but the hospital environment. This means sanitized medical tools, clean bed linens, and the health care professionals keeping themselves clean, as well. This developed into the nursing theory known as Thanks to the compassion and care of Florence Nightingale, the changes made in the field of nursing have created a health care field that is recognized as a profession, has regulation in education and practice, and is an area in which men and women can work to care for patients at many levels, and be involved...

As the founder of modern nursing, Notes on Nursing: What it is, What it is Not. The model of nursing that developed from Nightingale, who is considered the first nursing theorist, contains elements that have not changed since the establishment of the There are seven assumptions made in the Environment Theory, which focuses on taking care of the patient’s environment in order to reach health goals and cure illness. These assumptions are: • natural laws • mankind can achieve perfection • nursing is a calling • nursing is an art and a science • nursing is achieved through environmental alteration • nursing requires a specific educational base • nursing is distinct and separate from medicine The focus of nursing in this model is to alter the patient’s environment in order to affect change in his or her health. The environmental factors that affect health, as identified in the theory, are: fresh air, pure water, sufficient food supplies, efficient drainage, cleanliness of the patient and environment, and light (particularly direct sunlight). If any of these areas is lacking, the patient may experience diminished health. A nurse’s role in a patient’s recovery is to alter the environment in order to gradually create the optimal conditions for the patient’s body to heal itself. In some cases, this would mean minimal noise and in other cases could mean a specific diet. All of these areas can be manipulated to help the patient meet his or her health goals and get healthy. The Enviro...

What Florence Nightingale Can Teach Us About Nursing Today | School of Nursing retweet icon bullhorn icon reply icon info icon flickr icon tumblr icon vimeo icon reddit icon podcast icon angle-down icon angle-left icon angle-right icon angle-up icon ban icon hamburger icon book icon bookmark icon bug icon caret-down icon caret-left icon caret-right icon caret-up icon chain icon check icon check-circle icon chevron-down icon chevron-left icon chevron-right icon chevron-up icon circle icon circle-o icon clone icon close icon download-cloud icon code icon download icon ellipsis icon envelope icon warning icon external-link icon eye icon eye-slash icon facebook icon github icon google-plus icon heart icon heart-o icon home icon info-circle icon instagram icon linkedin icon lock icon medium icon minus-circle icon send icon pause-circle icon play-circle icon plus-circle icon question-circle icon quote-left icon quote-right icon rss-square icon search icon share-alt icon slack icon snapchat icon ticket icon twitter icon wheelchair icon youtube icon Article By On May 12, we celebrated the 201st anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. She continues to be recognized as the nurse leader who revolutionized nursing by collecting and using data, introducing hygiene practices that reduced mortality rates and providing reports to governmental leaders about changes required to improve military health care among British troops as well as civilian public health. Florence didn’t dream of...