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'Notes on Nursing : What it is and what it is not' : by Florence Nightingale

Ruth Davies

Nurse Education Today, Volume: 32, Pages: 624 - 626

Swansea University Author: Ruth Davies

Abstract

After Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale (FN) was probably the most famous woman in the world when she first published Notes onNursing: What It Is and What It Is Not in January 1860. The Nightingale name, synonymous with the Crimea and her image as the ‘Lady of the Lamp’, no doubt helped sales, wh...

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Published in: Nurse Education Today
Published: 2012
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa14050
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Abstract: After Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale (FN) was probably the most famous woman in the world when she first published Notes onNursing: What It Is and What It Is Not in January 1860. The Nightingale name, synonymous with the Crimea and her image as the ‘Lady of the Lamp’, no doubt helped sales, which were brisk with 15,000 copies being sold within two months (Skretkowicz, 2010). It is worth noting that there were three different versions of her book, all of which contain core elements of what was the big sanitary idea or what we would describe today as public health. The first version, and the focus of this paper, was aimed at the general reader with the intention of helping them care for the sick person within the family home and providing an environment which promoted good health.In contrast, the second version was aimed at the professional or paid nurse and published in July 1860 which, as Bostridge (2008) notes, was no coincidence given that St Thomas's admitted its first probationer that very month. The third and much cheaper version, published in April 1861 was, as reflected in its title ‘Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes’, aimed at the working classes.
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
Start Page: 624
End Page: 626