Body and daily life
Florence Nightingale
Care
Florence Nightingale (Britain · 1820-1910) — Care.
What actually happened?
Before the war, against her family's wishes, she went to Kaiserswerth in Germany to learn nursing, at a time when hospital nursing was thought no work for a respectable woman. In 1853 she took charge of a small hospital for gentlewomen in London. A year later the Crimean War began, and the Secretary at War asked her to take nurses to Scutari.
First remove what makes them worse
At Scutari her first work was laundry, kitchens, air and cleaning. The very first requirement of a hospital, she wrote, is to do the sick no harm.
Before buying tonics, check the sickroom is airy and quiet.
Draw it for those who won't read tables
With William Farr she showed that most soldiers died of preventable disease, then drew the months as a wheel where disease dwarfed wounds.
Send your boss one chart that says one thing, not a spreadsheet.
Turn fame into an institution
She came home as 'Miss Smith' to avoid the welcome, and used the Nightingale Fund to open a nursing school in 1860.
Rather than touring with talks, train three people who can carry on.
How do I use it today?
Pick one person or problem you are looking after and write one line each: what is making it worse that I can remove first; what one picture would make the decision-maker see it; and what lasting thing my effort or reputation could leave behind.
Deep read
Read alongside
Further
Lines to keep
A hospital's very first requirement: that it should do the sick no harm.
Every woman is a nurse.
Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care.