In the 19th century, she transformed her profession and the vision of women. A museum is dedicated to him in central London and has just reopened as the Night of Museums is celebrated across Europe on Saturday May 14. But who is Florence Nightingale?
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In 1855, British troops fought in the Crimea. A war that is wreaking havoc. A young nurse realizes, however, that the Russian enemy is not primarily responsible for the deaths of the soldiers. It was then that Florence Nightingale quite simply invented medical statistics, explains Professor Jennifer Rogers, a statistician herself.
“When she arrived in Crimea, she began to collect informationsays Jennifer Rogers. She then used them to demonstrate that the vast majority of soldiers who died died of preventable diseases, due to unsanitary conditions in hospitals. She was also a pioneer in the way she transmitted this information. In 1850, there were only tables filled with figures. She was the first to use infographics to communicate effectively”she told franceinfo.
Florence Nightingale invents, in fact, what we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic: these tables, these statistics to explain to as many people as possible. In Crimea, she then saved hundreds of soldiers from typhus, cholera and dysentery by cleaning up hospitals. It implements strict hygiene rules. No one had thought of that yet.
In the 19th century, medicine was a matter for men and certainly not for nurses. Nightingale’s intelligence and determination will change everything, says Julie Chandler, one of the museum’s guides. “Before Florence, the only nurses, apart from the nuns, were the wives of soldiers who fought or very poor women. They had no recognition, did not really know what they were doing.”
“Thanks to her, nursing has become respectable.”
Julie Chandler, guide at the Florence Nightingale Museumat franceinfo
Florence Nightingale founded a nursing school in 1860. The profession became more professional. Fiona Hibberts is now responsible for the “Nightingale Academy”. She visits the museum with emotion in homage to this glorious predecessor: “It’s the kind of place that lets you remember why you’re doing this. And an inspiration to move on when the days are tough.”
Florence Nightingale died four years before the start of World War I, a conflict that would see thousands of British nurses at the bedside of soldiers tending to them, sometimes saving their lives, part of her incredible legacy. A museum is dedicated to him in London. It is located at St Thomas’ Hospital, opposite the Palace of Westminster, across the River Thames. It welcomes the public again since May 12, the day of the 202nd birthday of the famous British nurse.
Presentation of the museum made for its bicentenary in 2020 (in English):
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