Florence Nightingale

Theory By:-firoz QureshiDept. Psychiatric Nursing

“Theory of Florence Nightingale”

Date of last revision January 31, 2012The goal of nursing is “to put the

patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him”. – Nightingale

Introduction Born - 12 May 1820 Founder of modern nursing. The first nursing theorist. Also known as "The Lady with the Lamp" 

She explained her environmental theory in her famous book Notes on Nursing: What it is, what it is not.

She was the first to propose nursing required specific education and training.

Her contribution during Crimean war is well-known. She was a statistician, using bar and pie charts,

highlighting key points. International Nurses Day, May 12 is observed in

respect to her contribution to Nursing. Died - 13 August 1910

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), considered the founder of educated and scientific nursing and widely known as "The Lady with the Lamp", wrote the first nursing notes that became the basis of nursing practice and research. The notes, entitled Notes on Nursing: What it is, What is not (1860), listed some of her theories that have served as foundations of nursing practice in various settings, including the succeeding conceptual frameworks and theories in the field of nursing. Nightingale is considered the first nursing theorist. One of her theories was the Environmental Theory, which incorporated the restoration of the usual health status of the nurse's clients into the delivery of health care—it is still practiced today.

LADY WITH THE LAMP

CRIMEAN WAR PATIENT

Assumptions of Nightingale's Theory

Natural lawsMankind can achieve perfectionNursing is a callingNursing is an art and a scienceNursing requires a specific

educational baseNursing is distinct and separate

Nightingale’s Canons: Major Concepts

Ventilation and warmingLight, NoiseCleanliness of rooms/wallsHealth of housesBed and bedding

Personal cleanlinessVarietyChattering hopes and advicesTaking food.  What food?Petty management/observation 

The goal of nursing is to place the patient in the best possible condition for nature to act. Health is “not only to be well, but to be able to use well every power we have”Health nursing, or general nursing are those activities that promote health (as outlined in canons) which occur in any caregiving situation. They can be done by anyone. Nursing proper is reserved for those individuals who are educated in the art and the science of nursing.

Nursing Paradigms

Nightingale's documents contain her philosophical assumptions and beliefs regarding all elements found in the met paradigm of nursing.  These can be formed into a conceptual model that has great utility in the practice setting and offers a framework for research conceptualization. (Slanders LC, 2010

Nursing Paradigms

Nightingale's documents contain her philosophical assumptions and beliefs regarding all elements found in the met paradigm of nursing.  These can be formed into a conceptual model that has great utility in the practice setting and offers a framework for research conceptualization. (Slanders LC, 2010

 Disease is considered as dyes-ease or the

absence of comfort. Environment"Poor or difficult environments led to poor

health and disease"."Environment could be altered to improve

conditions so that the natural laws would allow healing to occur."

Health is “not only to be well, but to be able to use well every power we have”.

Environmental effectsShe stated in her nursing notes that

nursing "is an act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery" (Nightingale 1860/1969),[3] that it involves the nurse's initiative to configure environmental settings appropriate for the gradual restoration of the patient's health, and that external factors associated with the patient's surroundings affect life or biologic and physiologic processes, and his development.[4]

Environmental factors affecting health

Pure fresh air- "to keep the air he breathes as pure as the external air without chilling him."

Pure water- "well water of a very impure kind is used for domestic purposes. And when epidemic disease shows itself, persons using such water are almost sure to suffer."

Effective drainage- "all the while the sewer maybe nothing but a laboratory from which epidemic disease and ill health is being installed into the house."

Cleanliness- "the greater part of nursing consists in preserving cleanliness."

Light(especially direct sunlight)- "the usefulness of light in treating disease is very important."[5]

 

Provision of care by environment

The factors posed great significance during Nightingale's time, when health institutions had poor sanitation, and health workers had little education and training and were frequently incompetent and unreliable in attending to the needs of the patients. Also emphasized in her environmental theory is the provision of a quiet or noise-free and warm environment, attending to patient's dietary needs by assessment, documentation of time of food intake, and evaluating its effects on the patient.[7]

Nightingale's theory was shown to be applicable during the Crimean War when she, along with other nurses she had trained, took care of injured soldiers by attending to their immediate needs, when communicable diseases and rapid spread of infections were rampant in this early period in the development of disease-capable medicines. The practice of environment configuration according to patient's health or disease condition is still applied today, in such cases as patients infected with Clostridium tetani (suffering from tetanus), who need minimal noise to calm them and a quiet environment to prevent seizure-causing stimulus.

Nightingale's Theory and Nursing Practice

Application of Nightingale's theory in practice:

"Patients are to be put in the best condition for nature to act on them; it is the responsibility of nurses to reduce noise, to relieve patients’ anxieties, and to help them sleep."

As per most of the nursing theories, environmental adaptation remains the basis of holistic nursing care

Applications of Nightingale's Theory

Nightingale theory and intentional comfort touch in management of tinea pedis in vulnerable populations

Incorporating Florence Nightingale's theory of nursing into teaching a group of preadolescent children about negative peer pressure.

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