How Nightingale's concept for a school of nursing changed global nurse education

When Florence Nightingale sailed back to England at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 she was already a legend in the eyes of the British public, someone who had struggled to improve the standards of care delivery to sick and wounded British soldiers. Regretfully, 11 of Nightingale's nurses died of illnesses during the war. This article looks at the contribution Florence Nightingale made to the establishment of formal education for nurses in the years following her return.

When she returned from the Crimea Nightingale was recuperating from Crimean fever, which was most likely to have been caused by brucellosis (Young, 2005), an illness that may be followed months—or even years—later by serious complications. It is in no doubt that after Nightingale returned she became a bedridden invalid plagued by periods of depression for many years, which only improved after she reached the age of 60.

Although Young (2005) considers that her symptoms were consistent with a diagnosis of brucellosis, Mackowiak and Batten (2008) are confident that they were consistent with criteria used today to define post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is perhaps unsurprising, given the sights and sounds she would have witnessed throughout the war.