Crimean War - Nursing Flashcards
Problems with nursing in the Crimea
-Lord Raglan, had limited the number of medical staff because he needed space on transport ships for fighting soldiers
-Medical supplies had low priority and sometimes medical supplies were taken off hospital ships so they could be troop transports e.g. In 1854 the hospital ships Cambria and Andes by Lord Raglan
-Army veterans were drafted in as stretcher bearers and non-medical assistants, with many being ill-suited for the work and becoming sick themselves
Problems at Scutari
-Scutari had originally been in barracks for the Turks and it was not designed for the sick and wounded
-There was very little clean water available
-Toilet arrangements were inadequate for thousands of wounded men with limited mobility
Nightingale’s approach
-When Florence Nightingale arrived in November 1854 with her 38 nurses, doctors took their presence to be an implied criticism and Nightingale faced resentment
-Nightingale alienated army doctors with her single mindedness, perhaps due to their attitudes against women interfering in male domains
-Nightingale was frequently at odds with independent-minded nurses such as Elizabeth Davis, who went off to Balaklava against her wishes
Nightingale’s impact at home and connections
-Nightingale’s work was reported in Britain where she became a celebrity as newspapers carried stories of heroism
-Her friendships with government minister Sidney Herbert and The Times correspondent William Russell gave her access to influential people
The beginning of the Sanitary Commission
-In early 1855, the new government under Palmerston ordered a Sanitary Commission to be sent to the Crimea
-Work began in March 1855 with shock at the conditions at Scutari and clean-up was ordered
Effect of the Sanitary Commission
-As the Sanitary Commission demanded changes, the mortality rates fell among hospital patients
-Nightingale welcomed the commission as having saved the army and worked hard to improve the supply of medicines and basic aids
Nightingale’s claims confirmed
The McNeill-Tulloch Report in June 1855 and January 1856 confirmed most of what Nightingale claimed about army failings
Mary Seacole going to the Crimea
-When Mary Seacole learned of the call for nurses to go to the Crimea, she came to Britain and volunteered as a nurse but was turned down possibly due to her being mixed race
-She decided to go to the Crimea independently and in January 1855 to join her old business partner, Thomas Day
-She stopped at Scutari and offered help to Florence Nightingale as a nurse but was once again turned down
The British Hotel
-Seacole and Day’s ‘British Hotel’ on Spring Hill opened in the spring of 1855, where soldiers could enjoy food and shelter
-it was popular with officers and ordinary soldiers who were drawn buy the better quality food
-Mary Seacole cared for the minorly sick and wounded by using a room as a dispensary for medicines but she did not work as a nurse
Difference between the Seacole’s Hotel and the Hospitals
-Army sent its most serious cases to the general hospitals, mostly under Nightingale’ and the less serious cases to regimental hospitals
-Men with headaches and stomach complaints took themselves to Mary Seacole’s ‘British Hotel’
Nightingale and Seacole considered
-While Florence Nightingale’s work received great publicity at home, after a brief period Mary Seacole was almost forgotten
-Nightingale returned from the Crimea to strengthen the argument for reform of army medical services and she met Tulloch, McNeill, and Queen Victoria
-Mary Seacole took no part in the post-Crimea discussions and reforms
Nightingale making a difference
-Nightingale’s analysis of what went wrong was widely accepted and led to major changes to healthcare in the British Army
-Nightingale set up new systems, established laundries and kitchens, reduced cross-infections and improved nutrition.
-Nightingale did not save thousands in the war but her improvement to the life of ordinary soldiers and her research saved many more over time.
Nightingale destroying letters on McNeil-Tulloch Theory
Letters between her and William Farr between February and early May 1857, which must have been promoting the theory of her friends McNeil and Tulloch that the men were already dying when they entered the Hospital, were destroyed
Opinion on the Sanitary Commission
-Nightingale wrote that she did not believe that Sutherland’s Sanitary Commission had made any difference to the death rate at Scutari in Spring 1855
-She wrote that she believed that reducing the overcrowding at Scutari, rather than improving the sanitation, is what caused the death rate to fall
-LATER CONSISTENTLY DENIED THIS
Nightingales Confidential Report,
-‘Notes on Matters Affecting the Health of the British Army’ is the source of evidence that Nightingale’s hospitals were more than twice as lethal as the hospitals in the Crimea which she had criticized
-The ‘Confidential Report’ leaked to a very wide audience by word of mouth however, although the opinions of the mass of the population cannot be easily established, it is probable that between 1857 and 1910 that the whole country knew much more about Nightingale’s failure and the Nightingales myth may be a modern re-invention
-She may have preserved her records as evidence of a great blunder by someone with perfectly good intentions
