LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Leadership was one of Florence Nightingale's natural qualities, and she lead by example. Florence Nightingale's leadership during the Crimean War demonstrated her intelligence, determination and a remarkable capacity for work. She successfully solved supply issues, resolved disagreements among caregivers, and improved healthcare delivery in the face of overcrowding, incompetence, uncaring doctors and an ineffective military structure.
CRIMEAN WAR
BACKGROUND
During the Crimean War, British Secretary of War Sidney Herbert sent Florence Nightingale and thirty-eight volunteer nurses to a military hospital in Scutari, Turkey, to help care for wounded British soldiers.
PROBLEMS AT THE HOSPITAL
Infectious diseases were killing more people than battle wounds. Extremely unsanitary conditions, such as filthy linens, swarming bugs, lice and fleas, and inadequate bathing supplies and facilities, increased the spread of infections and soldier mortality rates.
During the Crimean War, British Secretary of War Sidney Herbert sent Florence Nightingale and thirty-eight volunteer nurses to a military hospital in Scutari, Turkey, to help care for wounded British soldiers.
PROBLEMS AT THE HOSPITAL
Infectious diseases were killing more people than battle wounds. Extremely unsanitary conditions, such as filthy linens, swarming bugs, lice and fleas, and inadequate bathing supplies and facilities, increased the spread of infections and soldier mortality rates.
WHAT SHE DID TO MAKE A CHANGE
Florence Nightingale observed the delivery of health care at the hospital and felt the primary reasons for the high death rates were diet, dirt and drains. Working day and night with her team, she cleaned up the hospital, improved nutrition and promoted cleanliness with plates, forks and glasses and clean clothes, towels and soap. This significantly improved the quality of healthcare received by the soldiers. Driven by her concern with sanitation and its relation to the spread of disease and mortality, she worked tirelessly to care for the soldiers. She made additional rounds during the night after the medical officers had retired and became known as “the Lady with the Lamp.”