Florence Nightingale

sanakruz, ADN · Apr 14, 2003

HMMMMM

J. Tigana · Apr 14, 2003

has anyone heard of MARY SEACOLE?

karenG · Apr 15, 2003

yep of course we have! she has her own scholorship with the RCN! she is not forgotten!

Karen

Whisper · Apr 15, 2003

Yup,

One of the buildings at the Nursing school was called the Mary Seacole builidng, but we've transferred to another campus now.

I think Mary Seacole was a very brave woman, and it is such a sahme that she had to face such racism.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 3, 2003

Can you enlighten me about Mary Seacole? I remember the name but not accomplishments.

kermit27 · May 8, 2003

If it helps, my 6 yr old did a whole unit on her in Yr 2 (that's first grade for yanks!) and visited the Florence Nightengale museum in london. -- Absolutely loved it. grossed out by the stories of Crimean war soldiers, understood new importance of hygiene etc.

Ol' florence was definitely a good way to impress on her how important nursing is! (esp. with mom about to re-train! :)

Huq · May 10, 2003

Mary Seacole was from Jamaica. She learned her nursing skills from her mother who had kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Mary heard of the collapse of the British nursing system in the Crimea and headed for London in 1845. She applied to the War Office to offer her services as a nurse, however she was turned down. She believed the reason to be colour prejudice.

Not discouraged she funded her own trip to the Crimea where she immediately set about tending to the sick and wounded. She set up her own store where she sold medicines and supplies. After the war she returned to England destitute and in ill health, the Times brought her condition to the attention of the public. She wrote her autobiography entitled 'The wonderful adventure of Mrs Seacole in many lands' She lived prosperously for the rest of her life and died on 14 May 1881. Her grave can be found at St May's Catholic Cemetery in Harrow Rd, London. If you are in the Area pay her a visit to ensure a real British Heroine is not forgotten.

ProspectiveMDC · Jul 13, 2009

I agree, llg!
I have a copy of Florence's "Notes on Nursing."
It is full of wisdom and simple answers to the problems that still plague nursing today. I was amazed.
Of course, there is some content that is no longer valid.
But, the majority of it is timeless.
She even puts down adnimistrators for all but preventing nurses from nursing! lol!
I think it's time to take another look at Florence, people!

On that note, I am aware this thread is over 6 years old but Flo has stood the test of time in Nursing. Last year BBC released a 1 hour TV movie version of her life.

And, some wonderful person has made it available for those how missed it. Just, click down to the 8 Rapidshare links and download them. Being that i'm in the USA I don't know the downloading rules in the UK nor of this forum.

So if the Admin. deems that it violates the rules, then by all means just delete this post. I want no controversy, just want Flo's legacy to live on.

RGN1 · Jul 21, 2009

I think the people who "don't support Florence" know very little about her. The more I have learned about her and her work, the more I have come to respect her.
The problem is: many people assume she is no longer relevant without really knowing all the facts. Perhaps students should spend a little more time learning about her and some of the other great nursing leaders of the past and the present. In many disciplines, studying the work of those who built the knowledge is a central part of becoming an expert in the discipline. By not honoring our past (and current) nursing scholars, we downplay the importance of their work -- resulting in a downplaying of the importance of nursing work and accomplishments in general.
llg

:yeahthat:

K+MgSO4, BSN · Aug 5, 2009

just read this.........wondering what is the "Nightengale Oath"? i have heard some talk of American nurses taking an oath(!) when they graduate is that what it is??

Definatly did not take one in Ireland!!!:wink2:

elkpark · Aug 5, 2009

just read this.........wondering what is the "Nightengale Oath"? i have heard some talk of American nurses taking an oath(!) when they graduate is that what it is??
Definatly did not take one in Ireland!!!:wink2:

The "Nightingale Pledge" is an pledge/oath intended to correspond to the Hippocratic Oath for physicians. It was written by a group of US nursing educators and named for Flo -- definitely not written by her!!! (Although a lot of people seem to assume that's the case.) There are several other threads here that discuss the pledge and include the actual language of the pledge. It's a v. common and popular feature of US nursing graduation/pinning ceremonies to have the students stand and recite the pledge in unison. A lot of us consider the original language of the pledge kinda creepy, demeaning, and (needless to say) not representative of current, modern nursing practice (e.g., it includes references to "living my life in purity" and "faithfully aiding the physician in his work"). Some "updated" versions of the pledge have been proposed and circulated, some of them pretty decent, but, somehow, the original, icky version just keeps hanging on ... :banghead:

K+MgSO4, BSN · Aug 6, 2009

:)lol...........it is a bit outdated then:confused:. We did have a pinning ceromony which the rest of the university science deparment that shared our graduation cermony with us found strange!!