The mother of modern nursing: Florence Nightingale

No history of nursing in any location would be complete without at least a mention of Florence Nightingale. Indeed, in the general scheme of things, her influence is quite recent as before her work, nurses were considered the lowliest of the low and good only for cleaning floors and slop buckets.

Florence Nightingale had a fairly direct influence on nursing in Alberta as well. The first matron of the first hospital in Medicine Hat, Grace Reynolds, was Alberta's direct nursing connection to Florence Nightingale. She had been trained in Britain by a Miss Gordon who had been a student of Florence Nightingale's.

It wasn't until she did some training in a German school for deaconesses, much desired by her and totally opposed by her parents, that Florence Nightingale began to see how things could be improved. This was in 1851.

Through some social connections that she was asked to go to Turkey, the site of the Crimean War. She was asked to go to see what could be done to improve the conditions in the medical facilities, particularly by the introduction of nurses. Against a fair amount of opposition from the doctors there, she and her nurses began work and overwhelmed the soldiers with their care and kindness. She continued to work on their behalf when she returned to England, taking an active role in a commission to investigate the health and health facilities of the British Army.

In 1860 she established the Nightingale Training School for nurses in London. The young women received a year's training, some of it in lecture form, but most of it in the form of practical work on the wards. When they completed their training, the nurses staffed hospitals in Britain and overseas, as well as establishing other training schools. Miss Nightingale continued to be involved in the school, evaluating programs and nurses over the years. She also published her little book, Notes on Nursing , with its emphasis on observation and sensitivity to the patient's needs. It is still in print today in many languages.

Florence Nightingale believed strongly in the importance of hygiene, although her scientific knowledge wasn't up to "germs" yet. Thanks to this belief, working conditions in hospitals improved.  Her work in the district nursing field also helped improve the conditions where people were treated in their homes.