FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

Background Florence Nightingale was born on May 12,1820 Her parents are Edward & Frances Nightingale In 1851, she was accepted for training at Kaiserworth, Germany (3 months) In 1853, after 2 years of completing in training she became the Superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London When the Crimean war erupted, she was asked by the Secretary of War in London to go to Turkey to provide nursing care to wounded soldiers. Following the war, she returned to London & established a teaching institution for nurses Though she became ill,she still was an advocate for changes in healthcare

Florence Nightingales theory focused on the Environment

Definition: All the external conditions & influences affecting the life & development of an organism & capable of preventing,suppressing or contributing to disease,accidents or death.

Main Concepts:
Ventilation Warmth Light

Diet
Cleanliness Noise

Nightingales Canons of Nursing

Ventilation and warming Health of houses (pure air,pure water,efficient drainage,cleanliness & light) Petty management(avoidance of) Noise(avoidance of) Variety(in sights,activities,foods) Taking food Selection of food Bed and bedding(clean and dry) Light Cleanliness of rooms and walls Personal cleanliness Chattering hopes and advices(avoidance of) Observation of the sick

Assumptions under which the Theory Operates

Nursing Florence Nightingale believed that every woman, at one time in her life, would be a nurse in the sense that nursing is having the responsibility for someone elses health

Person she referred to the person as a patient. Nurses performed tasks to & for the patient & controlled the pt.s environment to enhance recovery Health being well & using every power that the person has to the fullest extent
Environment those elements external to & which affect the health of the sick & healthy person (included everything from the patients food & flowers to the nurses verbal & non-verbal interactions with the patient

Origins of the Theory

The Crimean War was fought from 1853 to 1856. The service of Nightingale and her trained staff of 38 volunteer nurses to wounded soldiers in this war made her famous in Britain. Death rates among soldiers due to hospital infection had been very high, and the experience eventually led her to the conviction that the lack of sanitary practices was the cause. This conviction inspired her passionate work in hospital sanitary reform. Individual,societal, & professional values were all integral in the development of her work.

Usefulness
Florence Nightingale served as the basis of nursing education in Britain & in the U.S. for over a century. Her nursing principles remain applicable today. The environmental aspects of her theory(ventilation,warmth,quiet,diet & cleanliness) remain integral components of current nursing care.
She pioneered in outcomes-based practice. As nurses seek to validate their practices through evidence, her groundbreaking use of data & statistics points the way for new generations of nurses

TESTABILITY
Florence Nightingale was a health statistician.
Her brief experience as a superintendent in London, & from her experiences in the Crimea, she was able to make observations & form the principles for her nursing training & patient care.

STRENGTHS
Simple yet generalizable

Environment affects individual & vice versa

Interrelated LIMITATIONS Focus is the environment only Focus on patient & less on support system

Nurse- patient relationship was least well defined

Nightingales laws of nursing were empirical generalizations developed according to the canons of inductive logic. Nightingales approach was consonant with her assumptions about the experiential basis of knowledge.