Florence Nightingale Research Paper

Florence Nightingale’s philosophy of nursing was centered on the patient and their relationship with their surroundings. She believed it was important to focus on the patient by studying their behavior and recording what was observed. She also focused on sanitation or cleanliness of hospitals. She linked five environmental factors that assisted in the recovery of patients. They are fresh water, fresh air, efficient drainage, cleanliness and direct sunlight. Her general concepts of ventilation, quietness, cleanliness, warmth and diet remain an integral part of nursing today. Her model would eventually be called the Environmental Model which suggested that the person must adjust to the surroundings one is in. She felt that the environment
She described health as free of disease. In a controlled environment, if the body is taken care of, health is achieved. She felt nursing was a calling from God and that it was a science as well as a profession. Nurses were meant to offer comfort, ease suffering, and look after patient’s well being. She worked very hard to raise nursing to the respectability that is so deserves. Nightingale stressed the importance of observing the patient. In her book, Notes on Nursing, she wrote: “The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe, how to observe, what symptoms indicate improvement-what the reverse-which are of importance-which are of none-which are the evidence of neglect-and what kind of neglect.” (Nightingale,1860,p.105). Nightingale held strong feelings about what nursing was and what it was not. She believed it was not servant’s work and the difference between nursing, medicine and her perspective was that nursing focused on the patient and the patient’s
Each day that I practice, I make sure that my unit is clean for my patients, my staff and myself. I always make sure that there is proper ventilation and that the patients are warm enough. This also applies to our staff, as they do not need to become sick or overheated in their work. I always ensure that the noise level is at a minimum in our unit for our patients comfort. They need to have a relaxing atmosphere while they are at our facility as well as staff need to be relaxed and not frazzled by commotion too. Sometimes, people have to be asked to step out of an area to regroup themselves for the safety of our patients as well as the staff. Since our unit works with a population that comes in so frequently, the unit tries to have some variety when it comes to the environment such as changing decorations to lighten up the mood for everyone. Lastly, as nurses, one must always keep their personal cleanliness in check for several reasons such as professionalism; remaining healthy for your patients and that also includes frequent hand washing during patient