Florence Nightingale

AUGUSTINIAN PRAYERLEADER: When we live in unityALL: How good and how pleasant it isLEADER: Pray for us O Holy Father AugustineALL: That we may dwell together in peaceLET US PRAY:

GOD OUR FATHER, Your Son promised to be present in the midst of all who come together in His name. Help us to recognize His presence among us and experience in our hearts the abundance of Your Grace, Your Mercy and Your Peace, in Truth and in Love, we ask this through Christ our Lord.

ALL: Amen.LEADER: Our Lady of GraceALL: Pray for us

Florence NightingaleMay 12, 1820-August 13,

1910

Was born on May 12, 1820 at Florence, Italy into a rich, upper class form of society.

His father serves as her tutor in mathematics, languages, religion and philosophy during her early life.

In 1845, Florence Nightingale announced her decision to enter nursing despite the intense anger and distress of her family.

In 1851, Nightingale went to Kaiserwerth, Germany for her early nursing training. After leaving Kaiserwerth, she continued to examine the facilities at hospitals, reformatories and charitable institutions.

In October 21, 1854, during the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale and a staff off of 38 women volunteer nurses were sent to Turkey, where she organized a nursing department and devoted her efforts to eliminating sanitation problems in the wards.

She made a great contribution during Crimean war especially in rendering nursing care, with a remarkably drop of mortality rate from 42 percent to 2.2 percent after six months.

During the Crimean campaign, Florence Nightingale gained the

nickname “The Lady with the Lamp”, deriving from a phrase in a report in The Times:“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she maybe observed alone, with a lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.”

In July 9, 1860, Nightingale established a teaching institution of nurses at St. Thomas Hospital (it is now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and it is part of King’s College Hospital in London.)

Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing, which was published in 1860, that served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools established.

Notably, she was the first woman to be granted the Order of Merit (OM) and the Royal Red Cross (RRC) by no less than Queen Victoria of Great Britain. During her time, she was the second most famous British person, after the Queen herself.

In 1896, Florence Nightingale was bedridden. She may have what is now known as chronic fatigue syndrome. But during her bedridden years, she was still able to pioneered work in the field of hospital planning.

On August 13, 1910, Florence Nightingale died peacefully in her sleep in her room and buried at St. Margaret’s Church in East Wellow, Great Britain.

And now her birthday marks as the “International Nurse Day”, celebrated every year.

MAJOR CONCEPTS AND

DEFINITION

Nightingale’s grand theory focused on the environment. It state that the environment, which is capable of preventing, suppressing, or contributing to disease, accidents or death, is all the external conditions and influences affecting life and development of organisms. Her major concepts of ventilation, warmth, light, diet, cleanliness and noise compromise the components of environment.

Proper ventilation

This meant the nurse was “to keep the air he breathes as pure as the external air, without chilling him.” Nightingale said that pure air was “the very first canon of nursing, the first and the last thing upon which a nurse attention must be fixed, the first essential to a patient, without which all the rest you can do for him is nothing.”

Light

Light was another element of nursing care that Nightingale believed could not be ignored.

“It is the unqualified result of my experience with the sick, that the second only to their need of fresh air is their need of light… And that it is not only light, but direct sunlight they want… Without going into and scientific exposition we must admit that light has quite as real and tangible effects upon the human body…”

The Need for Cleanliness

She stated that dirty carpets and walls contained large quantities of organic matter and provided a ready source of infection, just as dirty sheets and beds did. Nightingale also believed that unwashed skin interfered with the healing process and that washing removed noxious matter from the system.

Warmth, Quiet, and Diet

She advised nurses to constantly monitor patients’ body temperatures by palpating the extremities to prevent the effects of vital heart loss. “The safest atmosphere of all for a patient is a good fire and open window, excepting in extremes of temperature.”

Noise

Noise was another environmental element Nightingale believed the nurse should manipulate. “Unnecessary noise, or noise that creates an expectation in the mind, is that which hurts a patient…. Any sacrifice to secure silence… is worthwhile, because no air, however good, no attendance however careful, will do anything…without quiet.”

Three Qualities that should be distinguish as a good nurse so that patients were not starved to death because of chronic illnesses:

ObservationIngenuityPerseverance

MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS

PersonNightingale refers to the person as a patient in most of her writings. However, the patient is regarded as acting upon by the nurse or affected by the environment.

HealthNightingale defined health as being well and using to the fullest extent every power we have.

EnvironmentEnvironment was one of the chief sources of infection.

Health NursingNightingale envisioned health as being maintained through the prevention of disease via environmental health factors.

THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS

Nightingale believed disease was a reparative process. Disease she felt, was nature’s effort to remedy a process of poisoning or decay, or a reaction against the conditions in which a person was placed. Nightingale directed that nursing’s role was to prevent the reparative process from being interrupted and to provide optimal conditions for its enhancement. Nightingale assumed the person was desirous of health, so that the nurse, nature, and the person would cooperate to allow the reparative process to occur.

LOGICAL FORM

Nightingale used inductive reasoning to extract laws of health and nursing from her observations and experiences.

CONCEPTS: MAN, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND NURSING

Man

Referred to by Nightingale as “the patient”A human being acted upon by a nurse, or

affected by the environmentHas a reparative power to deal with diseaseRecovery is in the patient’s power as long as

a safe environment exists

Health

Maintained by using a person’s healing powers to their fullest extent

Maintained by controlling the environmental factors so as to prevent disease

Disease is viewed as a reparative process instituted by nature

Health & disease are the focus of the nurseNurses help patients through their healing

process

Environment

The foundational component of Nightingale’s theory

The external conditions & forces that affect one’s life and development

Includes everything from a person’s food to a nurse’s verbal & nonverbal interactions with the patient

Nursing

Is very essential for everybody’s well being.

Notes on Nursing – provided essential principles for rendering and implementing an efficient and effective nursing care.

PARADIGM OF NIGHTINGALE’S

ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY

Client

NURSE

ENVIRONMENT

VENTILATIONNOISE

NUTRITIONAIR

HEALTH OF HOUSES

VARIETY

CHATTERING HOPES

CLEANLINESS

LIGHTBEDDING

IMPLICATION/APPLICATION

OF NIGHTINGALE’S ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY

TO:

Nursing Education

The Nightingale system was the basis for the origination of many early nurse training schools, including St. Thomas Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London. This is no longer in general use, but its influence lingers on in the combination of practical and didactic training found in today’s nursing program. Nightingale felt the “art of nursing” could not be standardized, and therefore licensing examinations were inappropriate.

Nursing Practice

Nightingale’s nursing principles remain applicable to nursing practice today. Ventilation, warmth, quiet, diet, and cleanliness are integral parts of nursing care. Pure water and efficient drainage are controlled by public health regulations. Her inclusion of both health teaching and sick nursing within nursing’s domain was a then-revolutionary concept still defines nursing practice, and her insistence on proper education and social support systems for nursing remains pertinent today.

Nursing Research

She was one of the first to use graphic illustration in statistics. Nightingale recognized the importance of data collection in nursing care.

CRITIQUE

Simplicity

Nightingale’s theory contains three major relationships:

environment to patientnurse to environmentnurse to patient

She viewed environment as the main factor acting on the patient to produce an illness state and regarded disease as “the reactions of kindly nature against the conditions in which we have placed ourselves.” The nurse as manipulator of environment and actor on the patient were described in Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing.

This theory tends toward description and explanation rather that prediction. Nightingale did not intend to develop theory, but to define nursing and set forth general rules for its practice and development.

Generality

Nightingale’s theory attempts to provide general guidelines for all nurses in all times. Although many of her specific directives are no longer applicable, the general concepts, such as the relationships between nurse, patient and environment, are still pertinent. Therefore, it meets the criterion of generality.

Empirical Precision

Concepts and relationships within Nightingale’s theory are frequently stated implicitly and are presented as established truths rather than as tentative, testable statements.

Derivable Consequences

Nightingale’s writings, to an extraordinary degree, direct the nurse to action on behalf of her patient and herself. Most specific are her principles attempting to shape nursing practice. She urges nurses to provide doctors with “not your opinion, however respectfully given, but your facts.” She goes on to say, “If you cannot get the habit of observation one way or other, you had better give up the being a nurse, for it is not your calling.”

Nightingale’s view of humanity was consistent with her theories of nursing. She believed in creative, universal humanity with the potential and ability for growth and change. Deeply religious, she viewed nursing as a means of doing the will of her God. Perhaps it is because of this concept of nursing as a divine calling.However, her writings continue to stimulate productive thinking for the individual nurse and the nursing profession.

CONCLUSION

Florence Nightingale was such an excellent person. Her divine calling for service was ultimately beneficial not just for us health team members but to all population who has a great concern with their health. Her Notes on Nursing greatly affect our nursing system as to practice and education. She is really a good model despite of disregarding her parents’ opinion when she started to love nursing but because of her assertiveness and hard work to study well in educating herself. Environmental theory is such a wonderful theory wherein, it illustrates the interrelatedness of man to its environment. That’s why up to this present times her general concept were still applied because of her creativeness and brilliant mind. It is only right that Nightingale continues to be honored as the brilliant founder of modern nursing.

REFERENCES

Tomey-Mariner, Ann, Nursing Theorists and their Works, Mosby, 3rd edition

Octaviano, E. and Balita, C., Theoretical Foundations of Nursing: The Philippine Perspective, Ultimate Learning Series, 2008 edition

George, Julia, Nursing Theories: The Base for

Professional Nursing Practice, Appleton, 1999 and 2000 edition

Prepared by:

Randolph P. Camolista, RN

Thank you!!!God Bless