WWhat would Florence think of Nursing now? This is the topic for May #NurseBloggers2020 written as part of 2020 The International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
#NurseBloggers2020 May Topic
Many people associate Florence Nightingale with the “lady with the lamp” a title that was bestowed on Florence as she walked through the hospital halls and wards checking on patients during the Crimean war. A lesser well-known title that was bestowed on Florence was “the lady of the hammer”.
Florence earned this title through her tenacity in occasionally breaking into storerooms to obtain medical supplies for the hospital patients. The Army Generals gave her the nickname of “lady of the hammer”. Florence became known and respected for her perseverance, teaching, writing, persuading and arguing along with a no-nonsense but caring approach to patient care. The literature also cites her amazing capacity for work, along with her determination and her understanding of statistics.
There is no doubt that Florence’s thinking and approaches were way ahead of the times but what would she think of nursing today and what can be learnt from Florence that applies to modern-day nursing?
Florence and modern-day nursing
I think that Florence would be very proud of the modern-day nursing profession, with the extended scope of practice for nurse specialists and advanced nurse roles. The ability for nurses to be prescribers and to participate in nurse-led research, understanding the importance of data collection to demonstrate nursing outcomes in relation to patient care. I think Florence would also be proud of the collaboration with medical and allied health team members and the multi-disciplinary approach to patient care.
Florence Nightingale in the barrack hospital at Scutari, c1880. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)