Florence Nightingale, a monumental figure in nursing history, is famously
remembered as the founder of modern nursing. She was the “Lady with the Lamp:” a heroic nurse in the Crimean War, a gifted statistician (watch the YouTube video), a Victorian era sanitarian, and a woman who fought for the proper training of nurses. And yet, she also exemplified, rather than challenged, the values of her Victorian society within the gender and racial stereotypes of her age. As Dr. Reverby points out in the excerpt from her book, “for Nightingale, the training of nurses was based upon her understandings of a woman’s duty, but not of a women’s rights.” (7)
I would like you to discuss the significance of Nightingale’s contributions to modern nursing. What do you believe were her most enduring contributions to the nursing profession? Do you think they are still evident today and if so, in what ways? What were some of the more problematic aspects of her Victorian ideology that may have possibly hindered nursing’s professional development?
In order to answer these questions successfully, please make sure that youreference the excerpt from Susan Reverby’s book, Ordered to Care: the Dilemmaof American Nursing, 1850-1945 and the YouTube video “The Beauty of
Diagrams.” in your first responses; you may also refer to my lecture notes if you
wish. Please remember to support your DB comments with adequate quotes
from these materials; refer to both the Discussion Board Guidelines and Citing
Your Sources FAQ documents to aid you as you craft your responses
attachement 1. Excerpt from Dr. Susan Reverby’s book, Ordered to Care: the
Dilemma of American Nursing, 1850-1945. Dr. Reverby discusses Nightingale’s ideas for the reform and professionalization of nursing as well as some of her more ‘problematic” ideologies.
attachement 2. lecturen notes
3. YouTube video: “The Beauty of Diagrams” In this rather short BBC produced video (approx. 30 mins) the narrator discusses Florence Nightingale’s contributions to statistical analysis. This film tends to be a bit celebratory in nature and does not give us much in the way of critical analysis, since it was produced for a general public audience, nonetheless, you can still get a good feel for her far-ranging intellect and the amount of influence her Rose Diagram had on the British
crown in terms of the interpretation of patient mortality rates.
