Women: Phase 3 Improvements to hospitals and nursing in Britain 1860-1875 Flashcards
What improvements did Florence Nightingale make when back in England?
She found that even in peacetime, mortality rate was double that of normal civilian hospitals.
She used statistics to press for reform
In 1857, a Royal Commission on the Health of the Army was set up to investigate military hospitals
In 1859, she wrote Notes on Hospitals which included recommendations on space, ventilation and cleanliness (she believed in miasma theory)
She set up the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses in London and opened with 10 students. It made nursing a more suitable career for respectable women.
What did Florence Nightingale do in later life?
Florence acted as a government advisor on army and medical care in Canada and advised the US army during the Civil War.
She was bedridden for much of her later life but wrote over 200 books including Notes on Nursing
In 1883, she was awarded the Royal Red Cross
In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit.
What other factors helped to improve hospitals?
There was better engineering due to the Industrial Revolution
Government laws were passed to improve public health (1848, 1875)
More complex nurses meant better trained nurses
Germ Theory had an impact on all medical areas
Mary Seacole helped to raise the profile and status of nursing
What were the limitations to progress and change?
People believed women could not cope with the unpleasant aspects of medical training such as dissections
Doctors needed a medical degree from a university or teaching hospital and the 1858 Medical Act meant doctors needed to be officially registered with the General Medical Council - which they did not allow women to do.
