Who was the Founder of the Nursing Profession?

Of all modern professions, there may be none as lauded or as honorable as nursing. Most of us know and love a nurse – a person who cares for the sick without complaint, who heals and helps and gives comfort to people who need it most.

Nurses have a long and storied history. Each new modern generation of nurses relies on the practitioners who came before to develop new techniques and skills, to build on the deep culture of nursing, and to reform the profession. Of all of these amazing professionals, the most important may be Florence Nightingale.

Who was Florence Nightingale?

Born into a middle-class family in London, Florence Nightingale was hard at work in an era when women were expected to marry and raise children. Although it displeased her parents, she attended nursing school in Germany and eventually became the superintendent of a women’s hospital in London.

In the 1850’s, injured soldiers fighting in the Crimean war were making daily headlines for their horrific wounds and the terrible medical care afforded them by the military. Florence Nightingale knew the Minister of War, and he invited her to come to Turkey and oversee the brand new integration of female nurses into the medical wards there.

Nightingale arrived with dozens of nurses in tow and set to work correcting the ghastly conditions in the hospital. She became known as the “Lady of the Lamp” by the soldiers for whom she cared, who were comforted by her nightly rounds to ensure her new protocols were in place.

Nightingale came back to England a heroine, and donations allowed her to continue to reform the field of nursing.

Nightingale’s legacy remains

Florence Nightingale’s legacy goes far deeper than the patients she personally treated. She was also responsible for transforming into a serious profession for women of the era, and for overhauling modern medicine in some pretty miraculous ways!

• Nightingale established the very first professional nursing training center, the Nightingale Training School.
• She authored over 200 publications on topics from hospital planning to ward organization, and her ideas are still in use today.
• She believed that hospital buildings themselves could impact patient health. She worked tirelessly to educate about infection control and on the healing properties of a healthy diet for sick or wounded patients.

Nightingale’s most famous publication was entitled “Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not.” Nightingale intended, with the 76-page volume, to teach new nurses about the practices and protocols she believed would best serve patients, and which helped tremendously to elevate the profession of nursing. Included in the book are practices on things like cleanliness and changing of bedsheets, cleanliness of patients, nutrition, and noise management. Complete a nursing curriculum in any modern school of nursing and you will cover each of the topics that Nightingale discussed in her book more than 150 years ago.

Nurses today honor her memory

The work done by nurses on the ground at medical facilities around the world is a testament to the tireless work and remarkable foresight of Florence Nightingale. Triage, infection prevention, bedside manner, nutrition: each of these modern elements of medical care can be attributed in some way to The Lady of the Lamp.

Of equal importance is the now time-honored history of nursing schools, where generations of nurses have studied and practiced to join the ranks of this venerable profession. The Nightingale Home and Training School for Nurses opened in 1860, and is now a part of King’s College, London, where it is known as the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery. Truly, there can be no finer legacy to Florence Nightingale than an institution devoted to training the men and women who wish to do such noble work.

Are you ready to join the ranks? Honor the memory of Florence Nightingale with a career in the profession she helped to build. Get in touch with an ECPI University admissions advisor today to discussion earning your Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The degree program could last as little as 18 months.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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