Florence Nightingale's Philosophy of Nursing Essay

In the Crimean War, she arranged for the physical set-up of the patients' beds, the discarding of the infested and soiled linens and the ensuring of good and maintained ventilation.

After the War, she advocated for social reforms, one of which was the review of the British Poor Laws. The recall of this Law initiated its amendment into the Hardy's Bill on 1867. This bill looked into the state of workhouses and infirmaries that made improvements and administration changes imperative.

She also pushed for the idea of uplifting the poor through his environment. She pressed that the poor will not feel their shortages if their surroundings are clean. She explained that illnesses will be prevented by good sanitary practices.

Florence Nightingale's Nursing Philosophy on Health

Florence believed that addressing a person's health is a critical part of the nursing practice. During the Crimean War, she used mortality rate to address the fact that many of the wounded soldiers brought to them die. She used the data to show that their patient's healths are not improving therefore; modifications in their care are needed. In her notes, she recorded each patient's response to treatment. She was able to address any improvement or decline in the patient's health that helped ensure his recovery.

In India, after the war, she addressed cholera incidences. She saw how the illness affected the people that her made move for counter-measures. Through initiatives in health prevention, she introduced not just the physiological aspect of a patient's illness but also his psychosocial well-being.

Florence Nightingale's Nursing Philosophy on Nursing Itself

Florence shaped the modern-day Nursing practice.Her notes became standard for nurse's charts; her practice in observing/monitoring patients became the foundation for nursing assessment, her leadership in nurses' training begun the nursing curriculum and her compassion, commitment and dedication became the benchmark for nursing ethics. She made sure that the once not respected profession will be a necessity and a catalyst for social change. Her skills and tenacity raised the profession from just assisting the Physicians in applying bandages to a health care colleague who can be trusted to help patients get well.

Clearly, what begun as a young lady's dream became a reality of enormous impact. Florence Nightingale went against her family's wishes to shape the next centuries' practice of caring. Through her intelligence, determination and perseverance, she inter-played four metaparadigms into one Nursing discipline that answered one of the most basic yet very significant human concerns: that is of getting sick and of dying.

References

The Life and Impact of Florence Nightingale, 21.

Montero, L. Florence Nightingale on Public Health Nursing. Public Health Then and Now. February 1985. 181

Sellman, D. The Virtues in the Moral Education of Nurses: Florence Nightingale Revisited. 6.

Ulrich, B. (2008). Florence Nightingale: A Heritage of Carrying the Torch for Nursing and Patient Care. Nephrology Nursing Journal. 343.

Ulrich B., Florence Nightingale: A Proud Heritage of Carrying the Torch for Nursing and Patient Care, 343.

The Life and Impact of Florence Nightingale, 21.

Montero, L. Florence Nightingale on Public Health Nursing. Public Health Then and Now. February 1985. 182.

Montero, L. Florence Nightingale on Public Health Nursing. Public Health Then.....