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chapter 15 | Nursing Yesterday and Today 241 CikguOnline
she was described as a “sensitive, introspective, and religious orders. However, Catholic organizations
somewhat morbid child” (Schuyler, 1992). She was experienced a decline during the Reformation
driven to improve herself and the world around her. when the government closed churches and monas-
When she expressed an interest in becoming a teries. Hospitals were no longer run for charitable
nurse, her parents objected strenuously. They reasons but as a social necessity. Nursing lost its
wanted her to assume the traditional role of a social standing when the religious orders declined
well-to-do woman of the time: marry, have chil- and became a form of domestic service. Nurses
dren, and take her “rightful” place in society. were no longer recruited from “respectable” classes
but from the lower classes of society, women who
Becoming a Nurse needed to earn their keep. Other women who could
In the fall of 1847, Nightingale left England for a no longer earn a living by gambling or selling
tour of Europe with family friends. In Italy, she themselves also turned to nursing. Many had crim-
entered a convent for a retreat. After this retreat, inal backgrounds. They lacked the spirit of self-
she believed that she had been called by God to sacrifice found in the religious orders. They often
help others and became more determined than ever abused clients and consoled themselves with alco-
to pursue nursing. hol and snuff.
In 1851, Nightingale insisted on going to The duties of a nurse in those days were to take
Kaiserswerth, Germany, to obtain training in nurs- care of the physical needs of clients and to make
ing. Her family gave her permission on the condi- sure they were reasonably clean. The conditions in
tion that no one would know where she was.When which they had to accomplish these tasks were far
she returned from Kaiserswerth, she began to work from ideal. Hospitals were dirty and unventilated.
on her plan to influence health care. They were contaminated and spread diseases
Nightingale soon left for France to work with instead of preventing them. The same bedsheets
several Catholic nursing sisters. While in France, were used for several clients. The nurses dealt
she received an offer from the committee that reg- with people suffering from unrelenting pain, hem-
ulated the Establishment for Gentlewomen orrhage, infections, and gangrene (Kalisch &
During Illness, a nursing home in London for Kalisch, 2004).
governesses who became ill. She was appointed To accomplish the needed reforms, Nightingale
superintendent of the home and soon had it well realized that she had to recruit nurses from higher
organized, although she did have some difficulties strata of society, as had been done in the past, and
with the committee. then educate them well. She concluded that this
Because of her knowledge of hospitals, could be accomplished only by organizing a school
Nightingale was often consulted by social reform- to prepare reliable, qualified nurses.
ers and by physicians who also recognized the need
for this new type of nurse. She was offered a posi- The Crimean War
tion as superintendent of nurses at King’s College A letter written by war correspondent W.H.
Hospital, but her family objected so strongly that Russell comparing the nursing care in the British
she remained at home until she went to Crimea. army unfavorably with that given to the French
army created a tremendous stir in England. There
The Need for Reform was demand for change. In response, the Secretary
Fortunately for Nightingale, it was fashionable to of War, Sir Sidney Herbert, commissioned
become involved in the reform of medical and social Nightingale to go to Crimea (a peninsula in
institutions in the middle of the 19th century. After southeastern Ukraine) to investigate conditions
completing the reorganization of the nursing home, there and make improvements.
she began visiting hospitals and collecting informa- On October 21, 1854, Nightingale left for
tion about nurses’working conditions. She began to Crimea with a group of nurses on the steamer Vectis
realize that, to improve nurses’ working conditions, (Griffith & Griffith, 1965). They found a disaster
she would first have to improve the nurses. when they arrived.The hospital that had been built
Up to this time, the guiding principle of nursing to accommodate 1700 soldiers was filled with more
had been charity. Nursing services in Europe were than 3000 wounded and critically ill men. There
provided primarily by the family or by members of was no plumbing, no sewage disposal facilities.