The influence of Florence Nightingale on modern-day nursing is immense. Her work in the Crimean war laid the foundation for modern-day nursing. She is often referred to as the pioneer of contemporary nursing. Nightingale formulated the environmental theory of nursing. Her influence on modern nursing revolves around research, hygiene and sanitation, advocacy, and nursing administration. Her work influences more nursing and other fields of study like statistics (Frello & Carrro, 2013).
Florence Nightingale believed that a right environment was necessary for optimum health. For example, she observed that good personal hygiene and clean water were some of the things essential for good health. Today the concepts are still relevant. Personal hygiene activities like hand washing are critical to the prevention of disease. Hand hygiene is a significant activity employed in the minimization of nosocomial infections. Sanitation and water safety remain the pillars of public health. In most resource constraint areas and in times of natural calamities waterborne diseases pose a significant danger to populations. Presently, the environment includes the organizational and psychosocial environment (Norman, 2013).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Currently, nursing relies heavily on evidence-based practice. Research is paramount in the generation of evidence. Nightingale pioneered nursing research albeit in small scale during the Crimean war. She used her statistics knowledge to generate and organize data that was later used to inform public health policy. The well-designed nursing research will continue to inform evidence-based nursing in the foreseeable future.
Modern-day nursing advocacy began during Nightingale’s era. She advocated for the well-being of the soldiers she cared for during the Crimean war (Shetty, 2016). After her service in the Crimean hospital, she advocated for change in public health policy. She used her fame to win the support of the queen which was necessary for policy change (Karimi & Alavie, 2015). She was more interested in establishing environmental hygiene as an essential part of good health. At present, nursing as caring profession lists patient advocacy among other roles of a nurse.
Nursing administration as practiced today can be traced to Florence’s time. Nursing scholars have pointed out that Nightingale valued well-organized nursing. After the Crimean war, Nightingale trained nurses who went ahead to work as matrons in various hospitals in Britain. Though the administrative organization of nursing today has mostly changed, aspects of nightingales administration remain.
References
Frello, A., T., & Carrro, T., E. (2013).Florence nightingale's contributions: an integrative review of the literature. Esc. Anna Nery , 17(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1414-81452013000300024.
Karimi, H., & Alavie, N., M. (2015). Florence Nightingale: The Mother of Nursing. Nurs Midwifery Stud. , 4(2), e29475. doi: 10.17795/nmsjournal29475.
Norman, I. (2013). The nursing practice environment. International Journal of Nursing Studies ,50, 1577–1579. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.09.006.
Shetty, A., P. (2016). Florence Nightingale: The queen of nurses. Medical History , 4(1), 144-148. doi: 10.4103/2321-4848.183362.
