The awakening that modified the history of nursing

The 30-year-old woman joined family friends on a visit to Greece. She spotted a bit of owl that had fallen out of its nest; the animal was surrounded by a bunch of boys who were tormenting it. The woman rushed to a bunch of young people to save lots of the owl. She took him together with her to England, where she nursed him back to health and nurtured him as a pet for a few years.

This seemingly small act of mercy got here from Florence Nightingale. Those who follow Nightingale’s life and work say the incident provides insight into the character of the lady who would revolutionize the nursing career. They say that Nightingale’s selections were influenced by the deep, personal spiritual life she cultivated from an early age. Her spiritual beliefs influenced her decisions each when nobody was looking and when she was within the highlight developing significant health care reforms.

Nursing historians argue that Nightingale’s spiritual beliefs were closely related to the trail she followed in nursing. Her connection to spirituality led not only to her initial calling to take care of the sick, but in addition influenced her way of the world and her determination to initiate changes in medicine and nursing care.

“As we begin to examine Nightingale’s life, we begin to see that she clearly understood the importance of the connections in a person’s life between spirituality and healing.” says Barbara Dossey, RN, PhD, AHN-BC, FAAN, international co-director of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health. “She saw that spirituality was an amazing part of nursing.

Early journey

Unitarianism had an early influence on the young Nightingale. Her parents were Unitarians who believed in the equality of men and women. Their values ​​formed the basis of Nightingale’s belief that, despite standards in early 19th-century England that prevented women from attending university, she could be a lifelong learner and a force for change.

Nightingale studied intensively under her educated father. She learned five languages ​​and advanced mathematics, but she also focused on the Bible and studied it devoutly. Over time, she came to believe in the connection between the teachings of the Bible and the study of science.

“She had a rationalist approach to religion?” – says Reverend Michael Calabria, OFM, MDiv., lecturer on the University of St. Bonaventure in New York, who researched Nightingale’s spirituality. “The laws of science told her of a divine mind.”

Adopting Christian principles, Nightingale believed in helping those less fortunate than herself, Calabria says. Applying science to those values, she became convinced that individuals living in poor conditions were more prone to disease and that making a higher living environment would improve their health.

“She had a strong belief that someone who was a Christian should reach out to others in need?” says Louise C. Selanders, RN, EdD, FAAN, professor and director of the graduate program within the College of Nursing at Michigan State University. “She believed caring was a Christian act.”

Illuminated path

At the age of 16, Nightingale allegedly experienced a spiritual awakening? the sensation that she was called to a lifetime of service. Dossey says she translated that calling into her passion for nursing.

Despite your parents? nevertheless, egalitarian values, Nightingale’s desire to work as a nurse conflicted together with her mother’s plans for her.

“Her mother wanted her to get married and worked hard to get her married.” Selanders says. – But Nightingale knew he couldn’t marry and work because married upper-class women didn’t work. Nightingale received several marriage proposals; but because she was commissioned by God to alter people’s lives and couldn’t achieve her goals as a married woman, she refused.

At the age of 30, Nightingale took a vow of chastity to set her free to follow her calling.
Nightingale’s spiritual beliefs also enabled her to pursue a career well below her social class.

“At that time, nursing was a contemptible and low-quality profession?” says Dr. Lynn McDonald, director of the Collected Works of Florence Nightingale and professor emeritus within the Department of Sociology and Anthropology on the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. – Nurses were often drunk and known for stealing from patients? food and drinks. This was very frustrating for Nightingale.

Calabria states that Nightingale wanted to enhance the standard of care that nurses could offer, and this desire was driven by her spiritual belief that the dominion of God was possible on Earth.

“For her, nursing was essentially helping to build the kingdom of God?” – says Calabria. She believed that “Earth can come closer to heaven if we recognize and apply God’s law, and she wanted to take all available human knowledge and apply it to nursing.”

After years in Crimea, Nightingale fulfilled her calling as a nurse in administrative positions, which had a profound impact on nursing as a respected career? for instance, she founded the primary modern secular nursing school. A supporter of tolerance, she was adamant that applicants of any faith were welcome at the college, a practice unheard of on the time.

Spiritual record

For nurses like Dossey, Nightingale’s spiritual journey offers vital lessons for today. Nightingale, she says, understood that spirituality was an integral a part of the career because nurses were expected to like, care and provides to other people each day.

Dossey believes Nightingale’s example challenges today’s nurses to care for themselves spiritually to seek out the energy needed to serve patients.

“The Nightingale teaches us the importance of truly discovering who we are and where we come from.” says Dossey. ?It may very well be walking, praying or meditating? principally a time after we usually are not connected to external things reminiscent of television. It teaches us that we’d like this time to recollect why we do what we do.

For those that manage to seek out a spiritual connection, nursing can tackle a brand new dimension, Selanders says.

“The Nightingale set an example?” she says. “She was one among those individuals who had such a unprecedented vision; and showed us that if you will have a vision of how something must be modified, there’s the potential to alter it.