Nightingale's Impact: Florence Nightingale And Civil War Nursing

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Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale was a woman who pioneered nursing as a profession due to her passion for nursing. During the Crimean War, the British government discovered that they needed someone to assist with those who were injured. In 1854, they appointed Florence Nightingale as the superintendant of the nursing staff due to her ability to provide nursing services (Hood, 2014). Florence Nightingale changed the way healthcare would be given to soldiers during the Crimean War. Nightingale and another colleague worked to obtain funding, and were able to change two hospitals that were in poor conditions, and changed it to a facility that was clean and well ventilated (Hood, 2014). In the video, Sentimental Women Need Not Apply (Garey and Hoyt, 1988), Florence created an atmosphere that changed patients by showing that there are people who cared whether they lived or die. This changed the physical and mental conditions of those ill and injured, and in turn changed the mortality rate from 40% to 2% (Hood, 2014). In today’s society, Hospitals continue to change their standards to ensure patient’s safety and health are a priority and make necessary changes when needed.

Civil War Nursing During the civil war there was a great need for nurses to take care of fallen and injured soldiers.
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Dorothea Dix was appointed as the superintendant of the female nurses in the Union Army (Hood, 2014) and established the Army Nurse Corp. These nurses were selfless and volunteered to even put themselves in harms way to take care of the soldier. In 1881, the American Red Cross was started, all credited to a school teacher from New England, Clara Barton. Barton organized relief efforts to provide supplies to care for those injured or displaced in battle (Hood, 2014). This continues today with thousand of corporations, including the Red Cross, helping when there are emergencies. Nursing Training Programs During the Victorian era, nursing was not deemed as a respectable form of employment and was considered a profession for those who were vagrant and prostitutes (Hood, 2014). Florence Nightingale changed that with raising that standard to making nursing a “trained profession” (Hood, 2014). In the 1870’s, schools opened to train nurses and in 1873 the first training program in Bellevue opened with 23 students. Nurses would work seven days a week for 50 weeks out of the year for in turn, room, board and a small stipend (Garey and Hott, 1988). In hospitals, most of the care was given by nursing students. Because of this, nurses were exploited by hospitals and didn’t get a decent education or training experience. Once finished with their training, the nurses were not hired and their positions were given to another student. Those who completed the training were left to find a job as a private nurse, being on call 24 hours a day, typically in the patient’s home. In 1895, an organization was formed known as the American Nursing Association (ANA). The ANA, called for laws to raise nursing standards. The ANA continues to impact nursing by keeping nurses educated of the current issues along with being a resource on the changes in legislature. Public Health Movement One of the key social movements that impacted the development of professional nursing was the Public health movement in which

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