Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - CP Historical Figures Draft (Round 14) (pick anytime)

Itse · 09-08-2009, 05:04 AM

To add to the company of Napoleon and Einstein, historical figures who's names have become cultural references quite unattached to their origins, team HeroQuest picks Florence Nightingale in the Women category. That would be our 12th round pick.

She is unfortunately mostly remembered as a saint-like caring figure, which is a ridiculous understatement of the historical significance of this brilliant person. Not only a nurse, a teacher and a statistician (not to mention a significant feminist), she was a medical and social visionary, who's work has affected modern healthcare so profoundly it's become impossible to separate and identify her influence and significance.

Here's a mix of quotes from various sources, which mentions only a portion of her achievements.

She first became famous during the Crimean war, where she led a group of nurses (most of whom she had trained herself) running the Selimiye barrack hospital.

Nightingale kept meticulous records regarding the running of the Barrack Hospital, causes of illness and death, the efficiency of the nursing and medical staffs, and difficulties in purveyance, the results and the general ideas of record keeping significantly affected the running and organization of field hospitals and hospitals in general.

It is directly through her thorough observations that the association linking sanitary conditions and healing became recognized and established. Within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari, the mortality rate dropped from 42 percent to 2.2 percent. Florence insisted on adequate lighting, diet, hygiene, and activity. She understood even then that the mind and body worked together, that cleanliness, the predecessor to our clean and sterile techniques of today, was a major barrier to infection, and that it promoted healing.

After the war, she established The Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. Her school formalized secular nursing education, making nursing a viable and respectable option for women who desired employment outside of the home. Without it, there might not even be a concept of modern professional nursing, one of the building blocks of modern healthcare. She also advocated the role of nurses as healthcare teachers (so we can pretty much thank her for the existence of school nurses).

Believing that the most important location for the care of the sick was in the home, Nightingale improved the health of households through her most famous publication, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, which provided direction on how to manage the sick. This volume has been in continuous publication worldwide since 1859, and it has (directly and through the general spreading of ideas and concepts) significantly increased the general populations understanding and knowledge in the general principles of healthcare.

Nightingale's statistical models—such as the Coxcomb chart, which she developed to assess mortality—and her basic concepts regarding nursing remain applicable today.

A school for the education of midwives was established at King's College Hospital in 1862 by Nightingale. In 1869, Nightingale and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell opened the Women's Medical College. In the 1870s, Nightingale mentored Linda Richards, "America's first trained nurse", and enabled her to return to the USA with adequate training and knowledge to establish high-quality nursing schools. Linda Richards went on to become a great nursing pioneer in the USA and Japan. (Quoted just for the NA connection, she tutored many women who later became significant contributors in nursing.)

By 1896, Florence Nightingale was bedridden. She may have had what is now known as chronic fatigue syndrome. During her bedridden years, she also did pioneering work in the field of hospital planning, and her work propagated quickly across Britain and the world.

09-08-2009, 05:04 AM	#294
Itse Franchise Player Join Date: May 2004 Location: Helsinki, Finland Exp:	To add to the company of Napoleon and Einstein, historical figures who's names have become cultural references quite unattached to their origins, team HeroQuest picks Florence Nightingale in the Women category. That would be our 12th round pick. She is unfortunately mostly remembered as a saint-like caring figure, which is a ridiculous understatement of the historical significance of this brilliant person. Not only a nurse, a teacher and a statistician (not to mention a significant feminist), she was a medical and social visionary, who's work has affected modern healthcare so profoundly it's become impossible to separate and identify her influence and significance. Here's a mix of quotes from various sources, which mentions only a portion of her achievements. She first became famous during the Crimean war, where she led a group of nurses (most of whom she had trained herself) running the Selimiye barrack hospital. Nightingale kept meticulous records regarding the running of the Barrack Hospital, causes of illness and death, the efficiency of the nursing and medical staffs, and difficulties in purveyance, the results and the general ideas of record keeping significantly affected the running and organization of field hospitals and hospitals in general. It is directly through her thorough observations that the association linking sanitary conditions and healing became recognized and established. Within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari, the mortality rate dropped from 42 percent to 2.2 percent. Florence insisted on adequate lighting, diet, hygiene, and activity. She understood even then that the mind and body worked together, that cleanliness, the predecessor to our clean and sterile techniques of today, was a major barrier to infection, and that it promoted healing. After the war, she established The Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. Her school formalized secular nursing education, making nursing a viable and respectable option for women who desired employment outside of the home. Without it, there might not even be a concept of modern professional nursing, one of the building blocks of modern healthcare. She also advocated the role of nurses as healthcare teachers (so we can pretty much thank her for the existence of school nurses). Believing that the most important location for the care of the sick was in the home, Nightingale improved the health of households through her most famous publication, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, which provided direction on how to manage the sick. This volume has been in continuous publication worldwide since 1859, and it has (directly and through the general spreading of ideas and concepts) significantly increased the general populations understanding and knowledge in the general principles of healthcare. Nightingale's statistical models—such as the Coxcomb chart, which she developed to assess mortality—and her basic concepts regarding nursing remain applicable today. A school for the education of midwives was established at King's College Hospital in 1862 by Nightingale. In 1869, Nightingale and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell opened the Women's Medical College. In the 1870s, Nightingale mentored Linda Richards, "America's first trained nurse", and enabled her to return to the USA with adequate training and knowledge to establish high-quality nursing schools. Linda Richards went on to become a great nursing pioneer in the USA and Japan. (Quoted just for the NA connection, she tutored many women who later became significant contributors in nursing.) By 1896, Florence Nightingale was bedridden. She may have had what is now known as chronic fatigue syndrome. During her bedridden years, she also did pioneering work in the field of hospital planning, and her work propagated quickly across Britain and the world. Last edited by Itse; 09-08-2009 at 05:16 AM.