History of Nursing

History of Nursing

Midway through the nineteenth century, the profession of nursing was born. Nursing
historians attribute Florence Nightingale, a British-educated lady, to being the father of
modern nursing. By becoming a nurse, Florence Nightingale defied societal expectations and
the expectations of her affluent parents. The public was against women breastfeeding
strangers at the time. On the other hand, Nightingale saw nursing as an excellent career
choice for women (Witz, 2013). She believed they could utilize their education and scientific
expertise to better patients’ lives while also attaining more autonomy for themselves as
individuals.
A medical center in Turkey needed Nightingale's help in 1854 during the Crimean
War. In just a few weeks, the mortality rate among British soldiers reduced significantly. Due
to her accomplishments, the Western world was persuaded of the dignity and value of
educated nurses. During the American Civil War, a decade later, the growth of the nursing
profession accelerated. Women, generally the mistresses or wives of soldiers, began to follow
the North and South's armies when war broke out. Typically, they cared after injured troops
(Witz, 2013). Diseases such as pneumonia, typhoid, diarrhea, and malaria were the most
frequent.
Mary Ann Bickerdyke was a renowned nursing volunteer. While not married to a
soldier, she accompanied Union Gen. William T. Sherman's troops. Two thousand soldiers
were cared for alone by Bickerdyke after the Battle of Lookout Mountain in 1863. Civil War
troops were decimated by disease. Both the North and the South set up makeshift hospitals to
care for the thousands of people who had been impacted. Phoebe Levy Pember and Capt.
Sally Tompkins, who served for the South, led small teams of nurses in charge of providing
care. Volunteer nurses, many of whom were formerly enslaved women, saved many lives

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when they worked as a group. Consequently, the American public's view of nursing improved
significantly (Egenes, 2017). The nursing profession would grow swiftly due to increased
public backing and its undeniable benefits to health care.
Florence Nightingale and Nursing Profession
As a pioneer of contemporary nursing, Florence Nightingale is well regarded. Few
people are aware of her significant contributions to the field of health statistics. She rose to
popularity during the Crimean War when she led a team of 38 nurses to serve a British army
hospital in Crimea. Reports in the press had prompted the Secretary of War to put together a
team of nurses to investigate the situation at the military hospital. The Secretary knew about
Nightingale's leadership abilities since she was a friend. In November 1854, Nightingale and
her entourage made their way to Turkey. They discovered that the circumstances at the
hospital were far worse than what had been previously reported. Patient beds were packed so
tightly that they were unsanitary and covered with blood and excrement-stained rags; the
water and food in the wards were also tainted. Deathly animals perished in the courtyards,
and sewage was dumped on the floors of the hospitals (Pfettscher, 2021). During the first
several months following Nightingale's arrival, the hospital's case-fatality rate was 32%.
The crowded and dirty surroundings that Nightingale deplored, notwithstanding her
skepticism about bacterial illness, were a major concern to her. She set her nurses to work to
ensure that the wards were clean and the patients were well cared for. The most fundamental
issues that Nightingale dealt with were providing enough food and water, the ventilation of
wards, and the reduction of widespread corruption that was reducing medical supplies.
Nightingale. She had to overcome a military bureaucracy that was both inefficient and
antagonistic, and she did it partly by paying for remediation out of her pocket. She was
extremely meticulous in her record-keeping. Case mortality rates in hospitals plummeted to

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only 2 percent after six months. A national hero awaited Nightingale upon her return to
London three years later. After a few years, she suffered chronic fatigue syndrome
(Pfettscher, 2021).  Even though she spent the rest of her life alone, she had an enormous
impact on nursing and public health via her public influence, speeches, writings, and
publications.
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Nursing
EBP is a healthcare approach that utilizes the most current available research to
improve patients' health and safety w