Florence Nightingale was a British nurse, statistician, and social reformer. She was born in the year 1820 at Florence, Italy and passed away in 1910 while at Mayfair, London. She studied at the University of Cambridge and received the Royal Red Cross award. During the Crimean War, Florence played an essential role as a nurse by helping to take care of the wounded soldiers and other victims in Italy. During the war, she became popular and came to prominence by training other nurses on how to provide care and first aid services for the wounded soldiers.
Contributions to the Nursing Profession
Florence Nightingale developed the environmental theory that helped define nursing as the act of using the environment of a patient to help treat a disease ( Glasper, 2020) . In her theory, she identified the main environmental factors that are essential to the recovery of a patient, which include sanitation, direct sunlight, efficient drainage, pure water, and fresh air. Her theory remains relevant in the modern world and is used by nurses to help patients recover by ensuring that patients are provided with a conducive environment to promote quick recovery.
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In addition, she pioneered the foundations and nursing practices. She denoted that nurses do not need to know all about a disease, unlike other healthcare providers such as doctors. For instance, a nurse should ensure basic hygiene such as a clean environment for the recovery process by patients. Therefore, she helped define the roles and responsibilities of nurses in a healthcare facility. Also, Florence pioneered many nursing care methods such as functional, primary, case management, and total patient care that have been used to modernize hospital care and are still practicable to date.
In addition, she built Nightingale Training School and St. Thomas Hospital. She established the two health facilities through a prize she had received from the British government in recognition of her impact in nursing ( Steele, 2017) . The hospital has continued to be of use to many by providing high-quality medical services. Moreover, the nursing training school has had great impacts by offering quality learning and research for students in the field. Her work helped to improve the reputation of nursing as a profession from a menial to a respectable one where many women aspired to become nurses. Besides, she strongly believed that people were holistic individuals and therefore had spiritual dimensions. As a result, she denoted that nursing was a calling where nurses should help clients who suffer from spiritual distress ( Steele, 2017) .
Motivations to Become a Nurse
Florence Nightingale's life, beliefs, and actions can be a motivating factor for individuals who want to become nurses in various ways. For example, her actions to help victims of the Crimean War are admirable and motivation for students who want to become nurses. The nursing care and training she provided helped to prevent many deaths. In addition, when she built a hospital and a training college, it helped improve the lives of many people. Therefore, the contributions and impacts that the hospital and training college brought, such as the provision of quality health care, act as a motivation for individuals to become nurses. Besides, her belief that nursing involves a spiritual aspect as well as is a calling acts as a motivation for individuals to pursue a nursing career. Therefore, individuals who feel they have the calling to provide care for patients like Nightingale should feel motivated to study nursing.
Reasons I Have Chosen to Become a Nurse
I have chosen to become a nurse because it will provide me with an opportunity to save lives and bring happiness to individuals and their families. In addition, I have decided to become a nurse since I will be in a position to comfort people in need. My values are similar to those of Florence Nightingale because I strongly believe that nursing is a calling and involves offering quality patient care.
References
Glasper, A. (2020). Celebrating Florence Nightingale and her contribution to nursing. British Journal of Nursing , 29 (13), 790-791.
Steele, N. M. (2017). A time to celebrate: Florence Nightingale. Urologic Nursing , 37 (2), 57-60.
