florence nightingale by cecil woodham smith

What was required of them in work was nothing in comparison to what was required in behaviour. They had a room of their own food and uniform were provided and they were also paid a stipend.

Nurses had never previously been offered such a standard and they were well looked after. For the most part nurses were considered to be either drinkers, opportunists, morally loose and promiscuous or on the other hand as needing to be nothing other than ‘devoted and obedient’ and able to take simple instruction. His argument was that nurses were subordinates, ‘in the position of housemaids’ and ‘needed only simple instruction, such as how to make a poultice’.īecause of such criticism, much was rested on applicants having a certificate of ‘good character’ and they ‘were subject to minute examination’. Apparently, it wasn’t easy finding ‘young women of suitable character’.įlorence Nightingale wanted to set a standard whereby nursing would be a vocation that was deeply respected and lift the perception of nurses at that time ‘out of the gutter’. Interestingly most resistance initially came from within St Thomas’s, from a group led by the Senior Consulting Surgeon Mr. There was widespread opposition to her vision of reform in nursing. Whitford, the resident medical officer of St Thomas’s who supervised the medical training of the Nightingale probationers from the beginning and continued to do so for 13 years. It was a training of one year, a lengthy time in those days, which involved lectures, working with the doctors and surgeons and undergoing practical application of skills. There were 15 nursing students, called probationers, in the first intake.

In May 1860 Florence Nightingale invited women to apply for a rigorous training as a nurse and established a nurses’ home in St Thomas’s Hospital, London, to achieve this. No disrespect to the wonderful men who in more recent times have dedicated themselves to serve in this way. the ‘Moral record’– the character aspects of the nurse, her attitudes, behaviours, the thoughts and feelings she had about her work and the way she did it.Īt that time in history all nurses who began Florence Nightingale’s training were female and so in this article the references are always to women.the ‘Technical record’– the mechanics and tasks of nursing and.Two foundational standards that Florence Nightingale introduced in the initiation of nurse training were: I recently revisited the roots of our modern profession in the form of the work of Florence Nightingale via the definitive biography of her life written by Cecil Woodham-Smith, originally published in 1951.

Florence had it… have we lost it? Do we still value the warmth, love and care so natural to us that goes hand in hand with our technical skill?

Florence nightingale by cecil woodham smith