Mia St John

Professor Berz
English 1180
September 15, 2016
The Lady with the Lamp
The scent of gunpowder fills the air with an eerie sense of silence. For a moment, all you
can hear are the wails and moans from those left behind and injured. Everything is still for a
second, then the catastrophic siren of multiple cannons is unleashed. October 1853, the British
and the French declare war on Russia for the Ottoman Empire, otherwise known as the Crimean
War. The war was very brutal, one in every five men who fought will die. The injured were sent
to medical stations that were poorly staffed, and had scarce supplies. The sanitary conditions
were horrendous as well. Men laid in stretchers drowning in their own feces and urine. Rats
infested the halls, and the hospital sat on top of a giant cesspool. The water and building itself
were completely contaminated. Most soldiers were dying of infectious diseases, such as Typhoid
and Cholera, instead of injuries incurred in battle. Meanwhile in London, a strain of influenza
had broken out. One nurse stood out of the whole bunch, Florence Nightingale. Nightingale was
compassionate and aided several people who needed her assistance. Sidney Herbert, the
Secretary of War, was a personal friend of hers and asked if she would come help the hospitals
during the war. Florence arrived with 37 other nurses on November 4th, 1854. She was stationed
at Scutari, a British base in Constantinople. As soon as Nightingale arrived, she took initiative to
change the way the hospitals were ran. Florence established the profession of nursing, improved
hygiene practices, and created numerous patient services for the quality of the patients stay.

In the 1800s, a woman of high societies job was to marry a wealthy man. At the time,
nursing was looked down on; it was considered low status and very unimportant. When Florence
told her parents she wanted to pursue a career in nursing, they forbade her. At the age of
seventeen, she refused a marriage proposal from a suitable man named Richard Mockton Milnes
and enrolled as a nursing student at a hospital in Kaiserswerth, Germany. Nightingale explained
that she refused the marriage because she thought it was her divine purpose to become a nurse,
not a wife. In 1851, she began working at Middlesex Hospital in London, and impressed her
employer with her skills. She was promoted to a superintendent position after a year of working
at the hospital. After the war, Nightingale wrote notes on matters effecting health, efficiency, and
hospitals administration of the British army. This was an 830-page report, talking about her
experience and proposing ideas to change hospitals. The book gained popularity and gave public
awareness of what the hospitals were really like. She was awarded an engraved brooch from
Queen Victoria in 1855, now known as the Nightingale Jewel. The British government also
granted her a prize of $250,000 in which she funded the establishment of St. Thomas Hospital.
In 1860, Florence started the first nursing school named the Nightingale Training School for
nurses. The education requirements involved a year of instruction, lecturing, and two years of
experience working in hospitals. After the first class graduated, many students spread the
education process to other countries sharing the importance of the career. The upper class started
looking at the vocation with more respect and women of wealthy upper classes were enrolling in
her training school. Nursing was becoming an honorable occupation very quickly.
Before Florence arrived at Scutari, rodents ran wild within the corridors, and the staff
were using blood clotted rags as bandages. Once her foot stepped into that hospital, she
requested 80 more nurses and 300 scrub brushes. The first thing she did was gather as many

people as possible and scrub the building from floor to ceiling. Nightingale even asked some of
the patients to help clean with the rest of the staff. This promoted self-care, it taught the patients
independence and that they shouldnt depend on the nurses for everything. She also made sure
the soldiers were bathed regularly, trying to keep them as clean as she could to contain bacteria
levels to a lower amount. Nightingale set up a laundry facility so the patients linens could be
washed. This was an amazing contribution back then because chains of infection and microbes
were unknown. She established these standards for keeping a clean and safe hospital that are still
followed today. With all of her efforts she was able to reduce the mortality rate of the soldiers by
two-thirds.
When people are admitted to hospitals, the nurses do everything in their power to make
sure the patient is as comfortable as possible. This is because of Florence Nightingale. She
thought being compassionate and nurturing was very important. Nightingale herself would spend
the ungodly hours of the night checking on patient after patient carrying around a lamp. These
are now known as rounds or assessments in hospitals today. Nightingale thought spiritual nursing
was important as well. This is now known as hospice, where the patient will inevitability die.
The nurses try and make that individual as comfortable as possible in their last moments. Lastly,
Nightingale knew being empathetic and having compassion was critical, this is today called
therapeutic communication. The soldiers were so moved by her kindness, they nicknamed her
Lady with the Lamp and the Angel of the Crimea. She also set up a kitchen for patients with
special dietary needs, called Invalids Kitchen. Soldiers with allergies and other needs were
finally able to eat a substantial meal, not just watery soup. Nightingale created a classroom and a
library for those who enjoyed to read and learn. Florence helped make the soldiers time at
Scutari as enjoyable as possible with techniques still used in hospitals to this day.

After the war, Florence went back to London and became a public hero. Poems and plays
were written about and for her. Many wrote songs and dedicated them to her. In 1858, she
contracted the Crimean fever and was bedridden for the remainder of her life. This did not stop
her career though; she remained an advocate of health care reform. She interviewed many
politicians and published books about health care. Nightingale was consulted also about how to
manage the hospital throughout the United States Civil War. In India, she was an authority figure
for public sanitation issues even though she had never visited that country. Nightingale received
three awards for her work, the Nightingale Jewel from Queen Victoria, the monetary gift from
the British Army, and a Merit of Honor by King Edward at the age of 88. In august of 1910,
Florence became sick and died unexpectedly on August 13 at her home in London. She had a
modest and quiet funeral despite her fame and popularity.
Through all of Nightingales efforts, nursing has become a very honorable profession. She
has changed the way the career is looked upon, it is no longer considered dirty and low status.
She set up the first school and created the basis of todays training programs. Florence has made
sure that hygiene practices and sympathy are known to be a very important factor in a patients
well-being. Nightingale also knew the importance of being nourished, thats why she set up
Invalids Kitchen for those who have special dietary needs. Thanks to her, we have laundry
facilities, patients are well kept and bathed, and safety precautions for infection control are in
place. When patients are dying and there isnt much more a hospital can do for them, we now
have a special unit called hospice thanks to Nightingale. This way the person does not pass away
in pain, they can be as comfortable as possible with someone always there for them. Florence
Nightingale will always be remembered as the pioneer of nursing. She modified the complete
outlook on the field while changing hygiene practices, patient services, and the profession itself.