Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) …life story

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

…life story

• 1820: born in Florence, Italy (May 12)

• 1837: heard her calling from God

• 1840: “begged” her parents to let her study mathematics

• 1845: her family was against of the suggestion of Nightingale gaining any hospital experience

• 1849: tour of Europe and Egypt

• 1850: began her training as a nurse at the Institute of St Vincent de Paul in Alexandria, Egypt; in July she visited Pastor Theodor Flidener’s hospital near Düsseldorf (Germany)

• 1851: returned to Germany to undertake 3 months of nursing training at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses; from there she moved to a hospital in St Germain, near Paris, run by the Sisters of Mercy

• 1853: returned to London and took up the unpaid position as the Superintendent at the Establishment for Gentlewomen during Illness

• 1854: the start of the Crimean War; on Sep 20 The Times criticized the British medical facilities. In response to that, Sidney Herbert, the British Secretary of War asked Nightingale to become the nursing administrator over there. She arrived in Scutari on 4 November 1854 with 38 nurses; her official title was Superintendent of the female Nursing Establishment of the English General Hospital in Turkey.

1856: returned to London where using her statistics, she illustrated the need for sanitary reform in all military hospitals

• 1856: returned to London where using her statistics, she illustrated the need for sanitary reform in all military hospitals

• 1857: her wishes for a formal investigation were granted; that led to the establishment of the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army

• 1858: became the first woman to be elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society

• 1860: the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses based at Thomas’ Hospital (London) opened with 10 students

• 1874: became an honorary member of the American Statistical Association

• 1883: Queen Victoria awarded her the Royal Red Cross for her work

• 1907: became the first women to receive the Order of Merit from Edward VII

• 1910: she died (Aug 13).

• She published 200 books, report and pamphlets, among them the first textbook specifically for use in the teaching of nurses, Notes on Nursing (1860).

• She responded to the British war office’s request for advice on army medical care in Canada and was also a consultant to the United States government on army health during the American Civil War.

Pioneer of nursing Reformer of hospital sanitation methods Innovator in the collection, tabulation, interpretation, and graphical display of descriptive statistics