Florence Nightingale 1820 -1910 Angel of mercy

Florence Nightingale (1820 -1910)

Angel of mercy Florence Nightingale (On May, 12 th 1820, Florence — on August, 13 th 1910, London) — the sister of mercy and the public figure of Great Britain.

Early life. Born into a wealthy and well- connected British family at the 'Villa Colombaia' in Florence, Italy, she was named after the city of her birth, as was her older sister (named Parthenope for the old city that is now Naples). A brilliant and strongwilled woman, Florence rebelled against the expected role for a woman of her status, which was to become an obedient wife.

Her career begins. Florence Nightingale's career in nursing began in earnest in 1851 when she received four months' training in Germany as a deaconess of Kaiserswerth. She undertook the training over strenuous family objections concerning the risks and social implications of such activity, and the Catholic foundations of the hospital. While at Kaiserswerth, Florence reported having her most important intense and compelling experience of her divine calling. On August 12, 1853, Nightingale took a post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Upper Harley Street, London, a position she held until October 1854. Her father had given her an annual income of £ 500 (roughly $50, 000 in present terms) that allowed her to live comfortably and to pursue her career. Her most famous contribution was during the Crimean War, which became her central focus when reports began to filter back to Britain about the horrific conditions for the wounded. On October 21, 1854, Nightingale and a staff of 38 women volunteer nurses, trained by Nightingale and including her aunt Mai Smith, were sent to the Crimea, with the authorisation of Sidney Herbert.

Nightingale and her compatriots began by thoroughly cleaning the hospital and equipment, and reorganizing patient care. Although she met resistance from the doctors and officers, her changes vastly improved conditions for the wounded and by April dropped mortality rates by 40 per cent to just two per cent. She sent many letters to Herbert, to facilitate better medical care. She also invented the "polar -area diagram" to dramatize the extent of the needless deaths in British hospitals during the Crimean war.

Reportedly she treated 2, 000 patients herself. She also contracted Crimean Fever. She is remembered today because of the compassion, care and administrative skills that she introduced to the profession of nursing, to patient care and to the maintenance of medical records.

By 1859, Florence had £ 45, 000 at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund to set up the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas' Hospital on July 9, 1860. (It is now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and is part of Kings College London. ) The first trained Nightingale nurses began work on May 16 at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. She also campaigned and raised funds for the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury, near her family home. Florence Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing which was published in 1860, a slim 136 -page book that served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools established. Notes on Nursing also sold well to the general reading public and is considered as a classic introduction to nursing.

Nightingale in London 1910 has died on August, 13 th.