Florence Nightingale's Impact On Medicine And Nursing

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” (Charles Dickens). Florence Nightingale is comparable to this quote because all her life she dedicated herself to save suffering and sick patients. She went through her life putting others before herself without question. Her braveness and tender actions allowed her to rise to fame during the Crimean War in which she introduced the first nurses to military medical facilities. Florence Nightingale was one of the most influential nurses during the Victorian era and made a vast impact on the world for medicine and nursing. To begin with, Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy which is where she got her name Florence from. Her family was very well educated and members of the British upper class. Florence was expected by her parents to have a successful social life and marry well; however, She had a different idea in mind and instead chose social service, caused by a general
“Nightingale organized a brigade of 38 women and traveled to the Crimea to help nurse the soldiers.” (Florence Nightingale World History). As soon as Nightingale heard the news about the suffering soldiers she jumped into action and gathered several nurses in order to take care of all of them. Nightingale knew that people viewed them as people not worthy of time or trouble but she decided to go help the soldiers anyways because she knew she wanted to help them so she figured she would just have to change their minds. Her efforts to change the ideal picture of what nurses are to the soldiers was responded with resistance and interpreted as “not a woman’s business.”(Kuhlman, Erica Ann). After an amount of interminable negative publicity, the army had finally relented and gave Nightingale the job to reorganize the