How Did Florence Nightingale Contribute To Crimean War

When people think of the Crimean War they tend to automatically think of soldiers, weapons, and fighting. Although they played a huge part in the war, they were not alone. Florence Nightingale was a major asset to the war. She, along with dozens of other trained nurses, tended to the wounded soldiers and helped to rehabilitate them back to health. It was during this time that she noticed a correlation between the patients who died and their environmental conditions (cite #1). As a result of her keen observations and determination to better the nursing profession, the Environmental Theory of nursing was established.
Florence Nightingale, named after the town she was born in, was born on May 12, 1820, to a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. Her immediate family consisted of her parents, William Edward Nightingale and Frances Smith Nightingale, and her older sister, Parthenenope Nightingale. Florence and her sister were well educated by their father in various subjects such as
Instead she diverted all her attention on studying. Against the social norm of that time, Florence became a nurse and joined the war efforts during the Crimean War. She strived to give the best care she had to offer and made sure that other nurses were doing the same as well. It was while she was aiding the wounded soldiers that she began to notice that the environment that they were in ultimately influenced their recovery. After realizing this, under her leadership and direction the death rate dropped and the recovery rate increased. Now known as Nightingale’s Environmental Theory, her efforts in establishing a clean and conducive environment, such as clean clothes, clean dishes, the use of soap and water by everyone, and proper nutrition, greatly influenced their recovery in a positive way. In other words, her theory focuses on environmental factors that can be altered to improve the health of her