Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale is considered as one of the founders of modern nursing. Florence Nightingale became famous while serving as a trainer and manager of nurses during the Crimean War, where she organized how wounded soldiers would receive care (Thanattheerakul, 2018). She is best known as the founder of modern nursing since her efforts changed the nursing paradigm, which greatly impacts the nurses’ quality of care.  She helped define the nursing practice by suggesting that the nurses did not have to understand the disease process but needed to understand how to care for the patient by offering a caring environment. This was to enable the patients to deal with the symptoms and functional changes linked to the illness. This paper will focus on the contributions of Florence Nightingale’s theory in nursing to improve nursing practice and how her theory application influenced nursing familiarity, the part of females in the world, the culture of skilled nursing, and the duty to care for individuals within the society.

Florence Nightingale was accountable for shifting the manner in which the nursing practice is carried out by changing the community’s view concerning the nursing career. She learnt that the health organizations have deprived sanitization while the health personnel have insignificant training and knowledge and were unskilled while checking on the patients’ wants (Thanattheerakul, 2018). Florence Nightingale’s theory focused on the environment and gave details that illustrated each feature of the environment. The concepts of the theory regarding the care environment are simple, brief, and easy to understand. Florence Nightingale made the nurse work more efficiently by using her intuition about quality care and modification of the care environment. The theory has focused on four major meta paradigms concepts: human, health, environment, and nursing.

According to the theory, nurses should focus on reducing human suffering. The environment plays a great role in maintaining the well-being, health, and recovery of the patients. Florence Nightingale specified that nursing is a basic adjustment of the patient setting to offer comfort during suffering (Tomajan and Hatmaker, 2019). On the other hand, health goes beyond addressing the concepts of illness and absence of disease to using all the powers that every nurse has.

Florence Nightingale’s theoretical writings have clearly defined the nursing components and how they influence care quality. Most of her writings about the nursing profession and patient’s environment have focused on how these can be utilized to promote the patient’s wellness and health. The theoretical definitions of nursing have clearly stated what nursing is and what is expected of the patients and nurses. For instance, she focuses on the importance of a clean environment and air to boost the healing process. Florence Nightingale’s theoretical writings have a clear correlation between the implementation of nursing practice and theoretical findings.

Florence Nightingale utilized her motivation, intellect, and available opportunities that built her persona to build a permanent nursing profession transformation in theory. The nursing theory has greatly influenced the nursing knowledge and the culture of professional nursing practice since she was the first to bring the notion that nurses should be specifically trained and educated for their healthcare positions (McDonald, 2017). This has played a great role in improving the standards of nursing practice and improving patients’ overall care. Florence Nightingale stated that nurses are separate from other healthcare professionals since nursing’s objective is to put the patient in the best probable situation to promote health.

Florence Nightingale’s theory influenced nursing education since the theory appreciates the importance of knowledge of the profession and how to practice foundation is essential to nurses’ performance.  She established nursing education priorities and set the nursing profession’s vision to understand, view, and transform the healthcare system. Considerably, lack of knowledge on handling patients and the nursing profession was the main reason why the healthcare system created a multifaceted and complicated setting for nurses to offer the most basic care for patients (McDonald, 2017). Florence Nightingale’s theory greatly influenced the culture of professional nursing practice by expanding the nurses’ duties beyond care delivery to recognizing that the organization’s services and facilities are essential to nurses and the provision of quality care. Environment theory has influenced the way nurses practice their roles.

The model’s purpose and goal were to change the patient’s environment, leading positive change to their health. Focusing on pure water, air, cleanliness, efficient drainage, sufficient light, and adequate food supply has changed the nurses’ responsibility to maintain an environment that will improve their health. Florence Nightingale’s theory focused on the environment and how patients respond to the environment. Considerably, to restore health and save the patient’s energy to recover from the disease, there demands a balance between the environment and nurse practices (AliSher, Atta, Yasin, Sohail, 2019). Florence Nightingale believed that offering an appropriate environment is the difference in the patient’s recovery.

The theory has addressed how factors of maintaining a suitable environment facilitate healing and the healing process. Healthy living processes such as cleaning, ventilation, noise, heat, lighting, feeding, and odors influence the recovering process. Humanized care focused on the environmental control under which the patient receives care has been the foundation of professional nursing and nurses’ performance within the healthcare setting. This has contributed to better health outcomes as well as how care is offered.

Florence Nightingale’s theory has revolutionized nursing practices creating sanitary conditions for patients to receive quality care. This has involved the nurse’s initiative to establish an environmental condition that is appropriate for the steady restoration of the patient’s health (Mughal and Irshad, 2017). Florence Nightingale’s observations argued that unsanitary settings alter the recovery process. Through her recommendations for sanitary improvements and established standards for safe and clean hospitals have enhanced the environmental hygiene of hospitals.

The theory has also influenced females within society and their work as professional nurses. Considerably, her leadership within the nurse’s practice as the founder of modern nursing and an educator contributed to future women’s revolutionary practices. Nightingale improved the nursing practice and established the nursing profession as an appropriate career choice for women (Tomajan and Hatmaker, 2019). Through changing the nursing profession and perception of the nursing practices, the theory attempted to widen the women’s sphere in the nursing conception. This has greatly impacted women’s role in civilization since it has indicated what women are capable of. Over the years, most women have begun demanding equal rights.

Conclusion

Florence Nightingale’s theory has played an important role in improving the nursing profession and nursing practices by realizing that the care environment is important in boosting care quality. Not only did Florence Nightingale improve the nursing standards, but she also improved the conditions of hospitals. The theory recommended sanitary improvements and developed standards of safe and clean hospitals to benefit modern nursing. Florence Nightingale’s theory has made great contributions to nursing and society by improving the beliefs of proficient nursing, improving women’s part in society, and the call to care for all individuals in society.

References

AliSher, A. N., Atta, S., Yasin, I., & Sohail, M. A. (2019). Clinical application of nightingale’s theory. International Journal of Nursing Care, 7(1), 13-16.

McDonald, L. (2017). Florence Nightingale, nursing, and health care today. Springer Publishing Company.

Mughal, F. B., & Irshad Ali, B. H. (2017). Enhancing patient well-being: Applying environmental theory in nursing practice. Annals of Nursing and Practice, 4(3), 1085.

Thanattheerakul, C. (2018). Florence Nightingale: modern nursing theory forever. Journal of Nursing Science and Health, 41(1), 149-157.

Tomajan, K., & Hatmaker, D. D. (2019). Advocating for nurses and for health. Nurses making policy: From bedside to boardroom, 37-71.