NOTES ON NURSING BY FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE SECTION 00 PREFACE.
Summary
TLDRFlorence Nightingale's 'Notes on Nursing' emphasizes the importance of sanitary knowledge for every woman, as they often have charge of someone's health. She argues that nursing is more than administering medicine; it involves providing fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and proper diet. Nightingale challenges the belief that suffering is inevitable in disease, suggesting that much of it stems from poor nursing conditions rather than the disease itself. She calls for women to learn the laws of health to prevent unnecessary suffering and death.
Takeaways
- 📚 Florence Nightingale's 'Notes on Nursing' is not a nursing manual but a guide for thought aimed at women responsible for the health of others.
- 🌟 Nightingale emphasizes that nursing is a fundamental skill for women, as almost every woman will at some point be responsible for someone's health.
- 🌡️ She suggests that disease is often a reparative process by nature to remedy poisoning or decay, and that suffering is not always a symptom of the disease itself but can be due to inadequate nursing conditions.
- 🏥 Nightingale points out that many symptoms considered inevitable in disease are often due to a lack of essential nursing elements such as fresh air, light, warmth, quiet, cleanliness, and proper diet.
- 💊 She criticizes the common belief that administering medicine is 'doing something' while providing basic nursing care is seen as 'doing nothing', highlighting the importance of the latter.
- 🌱 Nightingale argues that the principles of good nursing apply to both the sick and the well, and that neglecting these principles can lead to illness.
- 👩⚕️ She challenges the notion that medical knowledge is only for doctors, urging mothers to learn about health and hygiene to better care for their families.
- 👶 The script highlights the high infant mortality rates and questions whether this is due to a lack of basic nursing and health knowledge among mothers.
- 🏠 Nightingale suggests that good nursing includes creating a healthy environment, which is often hindered by poor sanitary, architectural, and administrative arrangements.
- 🌬️ She addresses the common excuse that environmental factors like wind are beyond control, arguing that with proper knowledge and conditions, one can adapt to such factors.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of Florence Nightingale's 'Notes on Nursing'?
-The main purpose is to provide guidance and thought on nursing for women who are personally responsible for the health of others, rather than to serve as a comprehensive manual for professional nurses.
According to the transcript, why does Nightingale believe every woman is a nurse?
-Nightingale believes every woman is a nurse because at some point in their lives, they are likely to be in charge of the personal health of someone, such as a child or an invalid.
What does Nightingale suggest is the general principle regarding disease?
-She suggests that all disease is, at some period of its course, a reparative process by nature to remedy a process of poisoning or decay that has occurred unnoticed over time.
How does Nightingale define the term 'nursing' in the context of her notes?
-Nightingale defines 'nursing' as the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet, rather than just the administration of medicines and the application of poultices.
What does Nightingale argue is often the cause of suffering during illness?
-Nightingale argues that suffering during illness is often not a symptom of the disease itself but rather a result of the lack of proper nursing conditions such as fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and punctuality in diet administration.
What is the importance of understanding the elements of nursing according to Nightingale?
-Understanding the elements of nursing is crucial as it can prevent unnecessary suffering and potentially improve the outcome of diseases, by ensuring that the body's natural reparative processes are not hindered.
Why does Nightingale emphasize the importance of sanitary knowledge for everyone, not just medical professionals?
-Nightingale emphasizes the importance of sanitary knowledge for everyone because it is distinct from medical knowledge and is essential for maintaining health and preventing disease in everyday life.
What does Nightingale suggest about the role of mothers in the health of their children?
-Nightingale suggests that mothers should be educated in the laws of health and nursing, rather than relying solely on doctors, to ensure the well-being of their children.
How does Nightingale view the common belief that medicine is the primary action in treating disease?
-Nightingale views the common belief that administering medicine is the primary action in treating disease as misguided, emphasizing that providing proper nursing conditions is equally, if not more, important.
What is Nightingale's stance on the necessity of suffering in certain diseases?
-Nightingale acknowledges that some diseases may involve suffering, but she argues that much of the pain and suffering is due to inadequate nursing conditions rather than the disease itself.
What does Nightingale imply about the state of medical knowledge among the general population?
-Nightingale implies that there is a lack of understanding and education regarding the basic principles of health and nursing among the general population, which leads to unnecessary suffering and poor health outcomes.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Notes on Nursing
The first paragraph introduces the recording of 'Notes on Nursing' by Florence Nightingale, emphasizing that it is not a manual for teaching nursing but rather a set of thoughts to guide women in charge of others' health. It highlights the importance of understanding nursing as distinct from medical knowledge, which is reserved for professionals. Nightingale stresses that every woman is a nurse at some point in her life, and thus, improving nursing knowledge is crucial. The paragraph also introduces the idea that disease can be seen as a reparative process by nature, often hindered by a lack of proper nursing care, such as fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, and proper diet.
🌬️ The Misconceptions of Nursing
Paragraph two challenges the common belief that nursing is easy and that every woman is naturally good at it. Nightingale argues that the fundamental elements of nursing are largely unknown. She points out that poor sanitary, architectural, and administrative arrangements often impede proper nursing care. The paragraph also addresses the misconception that medical intervention is the only active form of care, while neglecting the essential role of nursing in providing a conducive environment for recovery. Nightingale emphasizes the universality of nursing laws, applicable to both the sick and the well, and criticizes the lack of education on these laws among mothers and nurses.
🌬️ The Influence of Environment on Health
The third paragraph discusses the impact of environmental factors, such as wind direction, on health. It refutes the notion that such factors are beyond human control and that individuals are powerless against them. Nightingale suggests that by creating good sanitary conditions, one can be less affected by environmental changes. The paragraph concludes the preface by implying that understanding and controlling these environmental factors is within our reach and is part of the broader scope of nursing and maintaining health.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Nursing
💡Sanitary Knowledge
💡Reparative Process
💡Fresh Air
💡Light
💡Warmth
💡Cleanliness
💡Quiet
💡Diet
💡Health of Others
💡Administrative Arrangements
Highlights
Notes on Nursing is not a manual for professional nurses but a guide for women with personal charge of the health of others.
Sanitary knowledge is essential for everyone, not just medical professionals.
Every woman is a nurse at some point in her life, emphasizing the universality of nursing.
Disease is often a reparative process by nature, not always accompanied by suffering.
Symptoms considered inevitable in disease are often due to lack of proper nursing conditions like fresh air, light, warmth, etc.
Nursing should involve the proper use of environmental factors and diet, not just medicine administration.
The art of nursing should include creating conditions that make proper nursing possible.
The value of particular remedies is often uncertain, but the importance of careful nursing is universally recognized.
Nursing principles apply to the well as much as to the sick, with violations leading to less severe consequences in the former.
Mothers and families should be educated on the laws of health to preserve the health of their offspring.
The high mortality rate among infants is a call to action for mothers to learn about health preservation.
The importance of understanding the laws of life and health is emphasized over medical or physiological knowledge.
Circumstances affecting children's health are often within our control and should be managed for better sanitary conditions.
The preface concludes with a call for women to learn and understand the principles of nursing for the health of all.
Transcripts
preface and start of notes on nursing
this is a LibriVox recording all
LibriVox recordings are in the public
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recording by Corey Samuel
notes on nursing what it is and what it
is not
by Florence Nightingale
preface
the following notes are by no means
intended as a rule of thought by which
nurses can teach themselves to nurse
still less as a manual to teach nurses
to nurse
they are meant simply to give hints for
thought to women who have personal
charge of the health of others
every woman or at least almost every
woman in England has at one time or
another of her life charge of the
personal health of somebody with a child
or invalid in other words every woman is
a nurse
every day sanitary knowledge or the
knowledge of nursing or in other words
how to put the constitution in such a
state as that it will have no disease or
that it can recover from disease takes a
higher place
it is recognized as the knowledge which
everyone ought to have distinct from
medical knowledge which only a
profession can have
if then every woman must at some time or
other of her life become a nurse I.E
have charge of somebody's health
how immense and how valuable would be
the produce of her United experience if
every woman would think how to nurse
I do not pretend to teach her how I ask
her to teach herself and for this
purpose I venture to give her some hints
notes on nursing
what it is and what it is not
Shall We Begin by taking it as a general
principle that all disease at some
period or another of its course is more
or less a reparative process not
necessarily accompanied with suffering
an effort of nature to remedy a process
of poisoning or of Decay which has taken
place weeks months sometimes years
beforehand unnoticed the termination of
the disease being then while the
antecedent process was going on
determined
if we accept this as a general principle
we shall be immediately met with
anecdotes and instances to prove the
contrary
just so if we were to take as a
principle all the climates of the Earth
are meant to be made habitable for Man
by the efforts of man
the objection would immediately be
raised will the top of Mount Blanc ever
be made habitable
our answer would be it will be many
thousands of years before we have
reached to the bottom of Mount Blanc in
making the Earth healthy
wait till we have reached the bottom
before we discuss the top
in watching diseases both in private
houses and in public hospitals
the thing which strikes the experienced
Observer most forcibly is this
that the symptoms or the sufferings
generally considered to be inevitable
and incident to the disease
a very often not symptoms of the disease
at all but of something quite different
of the want of fresh air or of light or
of warmth or of quiet or of cleanliness
or of punctuality and Care in the
administration of diet
of each or of all of these
and this quite as much in private as in
hospital nursing
the reparative process which Nature has
instituted and which we call disease has
been hindered by some want of knowledge
or attention in one or in all of these
things and pain suffering or
Interruption of the whole process sets
in
if a patient is cold
if a patient is feverish if a patient is
faint if he is sick after taking food if
he has a bedsore it is generally the
fault not of the disease but of the
nursing
I use the word nursing for want of a
better
it has been limited to signify a little
more than the administration of
medicines and the application of
poultices
it ought to signify the proper use of
fresh air light warmth cleanliness quiet
and the proper selection and
administration of diet
all the least expensive vital power to
the patient
it has been said and written scores of
times that every woman makes a good
nurse
I believe on the contrary that the very
elements of nursing are all but unknown
by this I do not mean that the nurse is
always to blame
bad sanitary bad architectural and bad
administrative Arrangements often make
it impossible to nurse
but the art of nursing
ought to include such arrangements as a
loan make what I understand by nursing
possible
the art of nursing has now practiced
seems to be expressly constituted to
unmake what God had made disease to be
that is a reparative process
to recur to the first objection
if we are asked
such and such a disease a reparative
process
can such an illness be unaccompanied
with suffering
will any care prevent such a patient
from suffering this or that
I humbly say I do not know
but when you have done away with all
that pain and suffering which impatience
are the symptoms not of their disease
but of the absence of one or all of the
above mentioned Essentials to the
success of Nature's reparative processes
we shall then know what are the symptoms
of and the sufferings Inseparable from
the disease
another and the Communist exclamation
which will instantly be made is would
you do nothing then in cholera fever Etc
so deep rooted and Universal is the
conviction that to give medicine is to
be doing something or rather everything
to give air warmth cleanliness Etc is to
do nothing
the reply is that in these and many
other similar diseases
the exact value of particular remedies
and modes of treatment is by no means
ascertained while there is universal
experience as to the extreme importance
of careful nursing in determining the
issue of the disease
2.
the very elements of what constitutes
good nursing are as little understood
for the well as for the sick
the same laws of health or of nursing
for they are in reality the same obtain
among the well as among the sick
the breaking of them produces only a
less violent consequence among the
former than among the latter
and they're sometimes not always
it is constantly objected but how can I
obtain this medical knowledge I am not a
doctor I must leave this to doctors
o mothers of families
you who say this do you know that one in
every seven infants in this civilized
land of England perishes before it is
one year old
that in London two in every five die
before they are five years old and in
the other great cities of England nearly
one out of two
the life duration of tender babies
as some Saturn turned analytical chemist
says is the most delicate test of
sanitary conditions
is all this premature suffering and
death necessary
or did nature intend mothers to be
always accompanied by doctors
or is it better to learn the piano Forte
than to learn the laws which observe the
preservation of offspring
Macaulay somewhere says that it is
extraordinary that whereas the laws of
the Motions of the heavenly bodies far
removed as they are from us a perfectly
well understood
the laws of the human mind which are
under our observation all day and every
day and no better understood than they
were two thousand years ago
but how much more extraordinary is it
that whereas what we might call the Cox
communities of Education EG the elements
of astronomy are now taught to every
school girl
neither mothers of families of any class
nor School mistresses of any class nor
nurses of children nor nurses of
hospital at all anything about those
laws which God has assigned to the
relations of our bodies with the world
in which he has put them
in other words the laws which make these
bodies into which he has put our minds
healthy or unhealthy organs of those
minds are all but unlearned
not about those laws the laws of Life
are in a certain measure understood but
not even mothers think it worth their
while to study them to study how to give
their children healthy existences
they call it medical or physiological
knowledge fit only for doctors
another objection
we are constantly told but the
circumstances which govern our
children's health are beyond our control
what can we do with winds there is the
East Wind
most people can tell before they get up
in the morning whether the wind is in
the east
to this one can answer with more
certainty than to the former objections
who is it who knows when the wind is in
the east
not the highlands drover certainly
exposed to the East Wind
but the young lady who was worn out with
the want of exposure to Fresh Air to
sunlight Etc
put the latter under his good sanitary
circumstances as the former and she too
will not know when the wind is in the
east
end of preface and start
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