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History Week 4: How did Florence Nightingale improve Hospital and Nursing?…
History Week 4: How did Florence Nightingale improve Hospital and Nursing?
Medical care in early 1800s
Middle and upper classes were able to pay the fees to a doctor to treat them at home.
Poorer people were normally looked after by a member of the family or visit apothecary.
Poorer people still visited the local wise woman
Hospitals
Many
hospitals
had been
closed
after the
Reformation
(when Henry VIII closed the monasteries)
In 18th and 19th century,
new hospitals were built
The
larger
hospitals were called
infirmaries
Many of these hospitals were built by
donors and rich philanthropists.
Some doctors donated their time to
practice their skills.
These hospitals
served the poor
and the
treatments were not free.
hence, being admitted as a patient was not guaranteed.
A large number of old, sick, blind, deaf or disabled people or with mental illnesses
were sent to the workhouse.
Hospitals were focused on medical treatments, but most treatments were still
ineffective
due to lack of understanding of disease.
Overcrowding and lack of cleanliness meant that death rates were high
Hospitals were known as '
Gateways to death
'
Nursing
Mid 19th century, nursing had a poor reputation. Most nurses were untrained and their wages were low.
Florence Nightingale
1)
Born into a wealthy family in 1820
2)
1850-
She went to train as a nurse in Germany for three months.
Back in Britain, she got a job running a hospital for rich women
3)
In 1854, war broke out between Britain and Russia in Crimea. 100,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or fell ill through typhus and other diseases
4)
The man in charge of the army asked her to take control of nursing the troops in the main hospital in Scutari.
5)
Florence took a group of 38 nurses with her to the war zones ans was horrified at the conditions.
6)
Florence wrote to the British government and ordered cleaning materials
7)
Florence and her nurses cleaned the hospital and hired 200 builders to rebuild parts of the ward.
8)
Within 6 months, she had reduced the death rate in the hospital from 40% to 2%.
9)
Newspapers in Britain called her "The Lady with the Lamp". In 1856, she returned to Britain a hero, but she was very ill.
10)
Florence wanted to improve hospitals abroad. She wrote a 800 page report to the government telling them how to improve things. In 1859, she wrote the book "Notes on Nursing" and even visited Queen Victoria.
12)
1863- Florence published "Notes on Hospitals" (new ideas about the design of hospitals). She believed in open, spacious, well ventilated hospitals because she thought (mistakenly) that stale air spread disease. Countries worldwide consulted her about hospital design.
11)
Florence raised 44,000 pounds to set up Britain first nurse training school at St Thomas' Hospital. She aimed to turn nursing into a respectable profession.
Florence Nightingale (Crimea 1854-1856)
Conditions at Scutari
Men sharing beds/ lying on the floor
Diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever were common
Many patients had diarrhoea
It was difficult to get enough medical supplies (bandages and medicine)
Food supplies were limited and of poor quality
Roof leaked and wards were dirty and infested with rats
The hospital was built on the site of an underground cesspool and both the water supply and air was affected.
Death rate in the hospital was 40%
Florence Nightingale (Crimea 1854-1856)
Part two
Changes made by Nightingale
Nightingale and her nurses scrubbed the surfaces clean and washed all the entrapment and medical supplies.
Made patients wash themselves and set up laundry
Made sure wards were cleaned and separated to prevent the spread of disease
She believed in miasma and the importance of fresh air. she opened windows to improve air flow
Cleaned kitchens and improved quality of food
A fund of money raised by the Times newspaper and she could buy new supplies
But the death rate was still higher than other hospitals
In 1855 when a government sanitary commission repaired the drains and improved the quality of drinking water. The death rate began to fall.