Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not

Overview

One of England�s leading historical women has complied her thoughts on nursing. Even though nursing has changed greatly since Florence Nightingale�s time her insights are a wonderful historical document full of common sense and practical information. This book was written not as a nursing manual but rather as suggestions for anyone with the responsibility of caring for an ill person. Nightingale empathizes in the preface that every woman at some time in her life will be a nurse and she must learn by doing not by reading. Nightingale is offering her experience as a guide. She covers such topics as ventilation, health of the house, bedding, noise, variety, food, light, personal cleanliness, sanitation of the room, and observation of the sick.

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Bio of Florence Nightingale

Born in Florence, Italy, of wealthy parents, Florence Nightingale was a British nurse who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing practice. She was a strong proponent of hospital reform and has been the subject of more than 100 biographies and many magazine pieces. As a young woman in the early nineteenth century, she had limited opportunity for a career. But Nightingale was very intelligent, and had extraordinary organizational capacities. She probably chose to become a nurse because of her great need to serve humanity. She was trained in Germany at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, which had a program for patient care training and for hospital administration. Nightingale excelled at both. As a nurse and then administrator of a barracks hospital during the Crimean War, she introduced sweeping changes in sanitary methods and discipline that dramatically reduced mortality rates. Her efforts changed British military nursing during the late nineteenth century. Following her military career, she was asked to form a training program for nurses at King's College and St. Thomas Hospital in London. The remainder of her career was devoted to nurse education and to the documentation of the first code for nursing. Her 1859 book, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not has been described as "one of the seminal works of the modern world." The work went through many editions and remains in print today. Using a commonsense approach and a clear basic writing style, she proposed a thorough regimen for nursing care in hospitals and homes. She also provided advice on foods for various illnesses, cleanliness, personal grooming, ventilation, and special notes about the care of children and pregnant women. 0 20

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Additional Info

Imprint

Digireads.com

Filesize

234.44 KB

Number of Pages

N/A

eBook ISBN

9781102290766