Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale. (1820-1910).
The Lady with the Lamp.

Poem Santa Philomena.

Lo! In that house of misery,
A lady with a lamp I see,
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.

“She is a ministering angel. In these barrack hospitals and her slender frame glides
quietly along each corridor, every soldier’s face brightens with gratitude at her sight.
When all the medical staff retired for the night, and silence and darkness had settled down, she was seen alone moving around with a lamp in her hand making her solitary rounds.”


On 12th of May, every year, the world celebrates International Nurse Day which is
the birthday of Florence Nightingale alias the lady with the lamp. She alone laid the
Foundation of professional nursing school at St-Thomas hospital at London in 1860.
Every qualified nurse takes the Nightingale pledge of cleanliness and sanitation, in
her memory and remembrance of innovative ideas introduced in the field of nursing profession.

She was born in a rich British family in the city of Florence, Italy. She was therefore
named Florence to keep link of that famous city with her name. She entered the field of nursing in 1844 amidst severe objection from her family. She worked hard to educate
herself in the field of art and science of nursing profession.

She was coated by the politician and poet Richard Milnes First Baron Houghton.
She rejected him because she believed that her marriage with him would interfere
with her ability to follow the rigid restraints and constraints of nursing profession.

When she was in Rome, she met with Sir Sydney Herbert, the Secretary of War during the Crimean War. He pushed her in the field of army health with his full powers to overhaul the affairs of the barrack hospitals. Her contribution was during the Crimean war when she saw the poor plight and horrific conditions of the wounded soldiers.
She had trained for her assistance a team of 40 nurses, settled down at the barrack hospital premises in service of the wounded soldiers. They found the wounded soldiers being neglected of first aid and medical attendance by the over-burdened medical staff.
Medicines, bandages and essentials were in short-supply. Hygienic conditions did not exist. Mass infections, many of them fatal, were common. There was no equipment to process food for the wounded soldiers. The death rate went on mounting. Ten times more soldiers died on account of typhus, typhoid, cholera and dysentery, than from battle wounds. Condition at the barrack hospitals was so fatal to the wounded soldiers because of over crowding and hospital’s defective sewers and lack of ventilation. She organised
a mass attempt to flush out the sewers and improved ventilation conditions. In some time,
gradually the death rate came down from 42 % to 5 % within a short time by improving hygienic conditions of the hospital. She introduced day to day laundry of all items
right from gowns, coats and all sorts of clothes of patients and doctors and the staff.

She declared that the higher death rate of the wounded soldiers was on account of mal nutrition and lack of supplies. She prevailed upon the authorities for immediate supply of
Essentials.

It was only after she returned to England that she confronted the Royal Commission of Health of the army with substantial evidence that most of the wounded soldiers were killed not because of battle-wounds but because of lack of cleanliness, sanitation and short supply of essentials.

This incident affected her life so deeply that she dedicated her life in introducing
in every hospital trained staff, with high standard of cleanliness and sanitation and ventilation. She reduced the death rate of the patients by following sanitary rules and regulations and she saw to it that they were enforced with military regulations at the
Hospitals.

She wrote notes on importance and role of nursing staff in hospitals and public clinics.
It served as the cornerstone of curriculum at the Nightingale school of nursing and other such institutions.

“Every day sanitary knowledge and the knowledge of nursing and how to put
the machinery in action in such a state in such a way that there will be no compromise.
In matters of cleanliness, sanitation, day to day laundry of all items of the hospital should be a ritual. It is this knowledge which every nurse must acquire, distinct from medical
Knowledge which only a professional can have.”

It was a time when simple rules of health and health related cleanliness were a mere beginning. Her strict attitude in this aspect opened the eyes of the medical staff and the nurses to observe basic principles of cleanliness, sanitation and hygienic conditions in the
Hospitals. It came at a time when total awareness in this field was overdue. It helped to save lives of patients by observing simple basic rules of cleanliness and sanitation and use of anti-sceptics, bandages, and soap detergents. Every doctor and staff was required to wash the hands with soap with meticulous care.

If hospitals were riddled with infection, and where nurses were ignorant and uneducated,
Efficiency would be at its lowest of low level and other side effects would arise.
She introduced deployment of trained nurses and sick patients were required to be looked after with care diligence and with kindness.

She died at an age of 90 peacefully in her sleep in her home in England.