With the dissolution of monasteries in the 16th century, any form of organised nursing activity disappears from available records. Only with the development of the larger scale charitable or voluntary hospitals in the 18th century, such as Manchester Royal Infirmary, England, in 1752, did nursing begin to acquire some form of organisation, and a more distinct role from that of servants (Mackintosh 1997).
The Crimean War was fought from 1854 to 1856. The British, French, and Turkish allies fought Russia on a small peninsular of the Black Sea. It was during this war that Florence Nightingale made her mark on nursing both then and now.
Nightingale arrived with 40 nurses to help soldiers involved in the Crimean War. Many of these soldiers where treated at Scutari Hospital in Turkey. Conditions where deplorable with dirty linen, poor waste management, bad food, bad ventilation, lack of cleanliness and overcrowding, Nightingale immediately developed a floor plan using every inch of space to better provide for each patient, she decided where to place beds and how far apart, windows where opened to provide ventilation and light and the hospital was cleaned, while infested blankets and soiled linen where discarded (Miracle 2008).
Florence Nightingale knew before she could accomplish anything she must win the trust of doctors. She determined not to offer her nurses and stores again until the doctors requested help from her. She demonstrated that her nurses where not out to interfere or attract attention, but to be completely subservient of the doctors (Malpas 2006). In some ways Nightingale served as a journalist, often reporting her findings to journalists who then reported her ideas for the British press. By the end of the Crimean War, Nightingale was famous for her efforts to improve care for soldiers and many of her changes were adopted by non-military health facilities. Her work was even recognised by Queen Victoria in Scotland when she returned home from the war (Miracle 2008).
In March 1868, Lucy Osborn, with five other nursing sisters, arrived in Sydney to take charge of the Infirmary. They where sent by Florence Nightingale in answer to an appeal from Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, in an effort to eradicate the current slovenly drunkard standard of nurses in Sydney at the time (Sydney Hospital 2008). Having been taught at the Nightingale College of Nursing, these nursing sisters mostly become matrons at various hospitals, therefore, continuing to spread the standards in Australia that were set by Florence Nightingale.
By the 1920’s fear of infection was great with tuberculosis, typhoid and pneumonia being large killers and antibiotics were unheard of, nurse training was an integral part of practice during these times. Training of nurses was conducted over 3 years with 1st year being mostly housework, such as dusting and sweeping floors, in 2nd year the nurses graduated to giving medicines and doing simples dressings, but it wasn’t until fourth year after 3 years of practicing on oranges the nurses were trusted to give injections (McKenzie 1998).
WW2 and the 1950’s saw nursing catapult into a profession that was both respected and admired. As Australians pulled together in times of war and financial hardship, nurses who served in the war to help our young Australian troops were given a semi-heroic status. Sanitary conditions and hygiene practices from the previous century were still being adopted as standard in hospitals. Nurse training was still being conducted in Hospitals and the Nightingale wards were still present, including hygiene practices and ward layout.
The Vietnam War saw nurses branch into specialties such as Intensive Care and Maternity, as these clinical areas became more independent of each other. “Each nurse might be dealing with up to 10 patients at a time, and four of them might be critically ill on ventilators. The Americans were so deluged with casualties they looked after the ones they could save first” (McKenzie 1998).
The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s saw liberation in women’s health as feminists gained recognition, family planning and AIDS became important issues, as well as sexual health and infectious diseases. Nurse training moved into universities and gained a more independent status as a profession previously envisioned by Florence Nightingale, to follow, was the pay and allowances being raised.
In conclusion, it’s important to see how nursing exists the way it does today by looking at the events of the past. By assuming people hold the values of pre Florence Nightingale days with regards to pay and equity, one would assume a nurse should be paid less than a plumber, because nursing would be “woman’s work” and a natural part of a woman’s role to care for others. It could be assumed that nursing is a less valued profession because nurses were originally untrained, slovenly and lazy drunks, with nurse education only going to the universities in the 1980’s.
Nightingale wards are mostly phased out as hospitals move towards patient centred care systems. With nurses needs generally coming after what the patient wants, the Nightingale type ward is almost obsolete, except for areas such as emergency or intensive care, where clinical skills are regarded more important than patient comfort.
Males returned more and more to the profession making 8% of the total nursing workforce, the role of nurses has now expanded to include specialist nursing practitioners. It is estimated that 20% of male nurses hold management positions, with a majority of the remainder, employed in specialist clinical areas such as intensive care or emergency departments (Mackintosh 1997).
Nursing history … what for? Because knowing history helps us to prevent the re-occurrence of past mistakes, both personally and professionally (Schoor 1998).
References
McKenzie, K 1998, ‘The Way’, The Lamp, Vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 10-15.
Gregory, L 1997, ‘Factors which shaped the nature of Australian nursing 1865-1990’s’, Nursing Matters, Vol. 5, pp. 4-7.
Mackintosh, C 1997, ‘A historical study of men in nursing’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 232-236.
Malpas, P 2006, ‘Florence Nightingale: Appreciating Our Legacy, Envisioning Our Future’, Gastroenterology Nursing, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 447-452.
Miracle, V 2008, ‘The life and impact of Florence Nightingale’, Dimensions of critical care nursing, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 21-23.
Schoor, L 1998, ‘A bit of WNA history. Nursing history…What for.’, Wyoming Nurse, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 18-20.
Gladfelter, J 2007, ‘Florence Nightingale… What you may not know’, Plastic Surgical Nursing, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 210-211.
Evans, J 2004, ‘Men nurses: a historical and feminist perspective’, Journal of advanced nursing, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 321-328.
South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service,
NSW Health, Sydney Hospital, Viewed 10 May 2008,
http://www.sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au/sydhosp/osburn.asp