florence nightingale environmental theory

Florence nightingale environmental theory how to#

When Nightingale and her nurses first arrived at the hospital, it was understaffed by doctors’, overcrowded with patients, unsanitary and had insufficient medical supplies. Nightingale, who happened to be close friends with the Secretary of War for England, was asked to organize and manage a group of nurses at a military camp hospital in Scutari.

As a result, death rates were extremely high. Therefore, the war camp hospitals were horrendous. The British were unprepared for the high numbers of sick and wounded soldiers. The significant turning point for Nightingale’s career occurred in 1854 at the start of the Crimean War where she served as a nurse coordinator and leader. Through this experience, Nightingale developed effective nursing and leadership skills that helped forge the path of her future by leading her to become one of the most influential leaders of nursing from the latter half of the 17th to the mid-19th centuries. In 1853, Nightingale began working as a superintendent for a private hospital in London caring for many sick people afflicted by a major cholera outbreak. Paradoxically, upon returning to England in 1851 as a successful and skilled nurse, her main nursing priority was providing care for her parents and sister who had fallen ill. She attended nursing school at a famous hospital in Germany with some of her friends. By her early twenties, against her parents’ wishes, Nightingale decided to become a nurse so that she could heal the sick and the poor. As she grew older, she acquired an interest in healthcare. At the age of sixteen she received a “calling” from God to do something special to help others. Despite her parents’ expectations to follow their rules and regulations regarding marriage and social life, Florence had other ideas.

Florence nightingale environmental theory how to#

Because of her social status, she was educated by her father who taught her history, mathematics, and geography and how to speak Latin, Greek and Italian. Additionally, Florence Nightingale, often referred to as the founder of modern nursing or Mother of Nursing, transformed the nursing profession by raising the standards and educational expectations for the job.įlorence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy to an affluent English family. Her revolutionary patient-care theory played an integral role in influencing the primary focus of a nurse’s role as caregiver.

Nightingale’s Environmental Theory places emphasis on both patient care and the nursing process. In other words, the hospital environment should be therapeutic and peaceful for patients causing them no maleficence during the healing process. Nightingale’s theory asserts that altering a patient’s environment will provide optimal conditions for healing and therefore, will provide a positive impact on a patient’s health. According to Nightingale’s Environmental Theory, the hospital environment should promote and benefit the patient’s healing process through the provision of many factors with the five most significant being – clean air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and sufficient light. Nightingale’s revolutionary ideals which place an emphasis on a holistic approach to the health care environment and on the importance of nursing education and training, continue to make a significant impact on modern day health care. Not only does this quote apply to Nightingale’s experiences during the Crimean War, it also rings true today. Florence Nightingale once said, “the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm”.