Nursing as Defined by Nightingale - Essay Example

Women during my time could not go outright and do what they want. Their role is to marry and manage the household. Sidney Herbert, a man close to my heart, knew of my desire to do something more than just be a wife. He respected my choice and has been my friend ever since. For choosing a different path, I have been called an activist. And, because of this choice I had to live most of my life away from my family. My mother was very vocal that she was against what I was doing. Despite this, I persisted.

My commitment to the task was growing as I worked everyday to help people to get well. But commitment and will without preparing oneself for the task would amount to nothing. This is the reason why I used the donations I obtained from the war survivors, soldiers and their families, to open the world’s first school for nurses: The Nightingale School for Nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London (Morgan, 1992). It was also at this time that my “Notes on Nursing” was published. It became popular as a compilation of rules on practical nursing and hygiene (Harmelick, 1969).

For me, these notes were not rules, but: “The following notes are by no means intended as a rule of thought by which nurses can teach themselves to nurse, still less as a manual to teach nurses to nurse. They are meant simply to give hints for thought to women who have personal charge of the health of others.” (Nightingale, 1860) “It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet—all at the least expense of vital power to the patient” (Nightingale, 1860) Basically, the issues that I wanted to answer in this book dealt with: “the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet” (Nightingale, 1860).

According to Mr. Selanders these can be combined to form three central