Health and Healthcare Systems

Florence Nightingale’s legacy lives on as the world faces the COVID-19 coronavirus

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly

Florence Nightingale is considered one of the founders of modern nursing. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Mindy Burrows
Freelance Journalist , Reuters
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Global Health

  • 2020 marks the bicentenary of British nurse Florence Nightingale's birth.
  • The Victorian is considered one of the founders of modern nursing.
  • She was a tough pioneer, whose principles on hygiene underpin modern-day medicine - and are relevant in the fight against today's coronavirus epidemic.

Victorian Britain took Florence Nightingale into its heart as the “Lady with the Lamp” who tended wounded soldiers, but a new exhibition shows her as a tough pioneer whose principles on hygiene underpin nursing today as the world battles coronavirus.

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The show at the Florence Nightingale Museum within London’s St Thomas’ Hospital marks the bicentenary of Nightingale’s birth into a wealthy family, and tells the story of how she fought her family’s opposition and social constraints to become the world’s most famous nurse.

“Florence Nightingale’s legacy is really, really important. Obviously, she was a forceful leader. And we need clear, visible, strong leadership today and certainly in modern nursing,” said Fiona Hibberts, from the Nightingale Academy, a nursing institution at the hospital.

The exhibition “Nightingale in 200 Objects, People & Places” will run for a year.

St Thomas’ is one of a handful of hospitals in Britain with a specialist ward for the treatment of coronavirus patients.

“The emphasis on sanitation, good hygiene, fresh air exercise, good food... no matter how much we advance, those fundamental foundational principles of Florence are still very much the basis of modern nursing,” said Hibberts.

“It’s the same old message. Wash your hands.”

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
Nightingale was dedicated to teaching nursing throughout her life. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Nightingale became famous after she and a small team of nurses traveled to modern-day Istanbul to treat British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War, in which British, French and Ottoman forces fought the Russian Empire.

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
Nightingale in her youth. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

In a filthy hospital set up in a barracks on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, she saw thousands of soldiers die from infectious diseases rather than their wounds, prompting her to try and improve conditions.

The lamp she used to tour the wards at night is on show at the exhibition, as is the nurses’ uniform she created.

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
Florence Nightingale earned the nickname 'The Lady with the Lamp'. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

“If Florence Nightingale herself was here, she would be supporting all that’s being said at the moment. She was absolutely into infection control, hand washing, being very observant,” said Yvonne Moores, Chair of the Florence Nightingale Foundation and Britain’s former national Chief Nursing Officer.

“She would also, bearing in mind her very, very long career, be encouraging people that have retired ... to think about the role that they might be able to play in coming back.”

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
How might Florence Nightingale respond the to the health advice surrounding coronavirus? Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Many retired doctors and nurses have reacted with alarm to a suggestion by the British government that it would call on them to help battle coronavirus if necessary.

Nightingale died at the age of 90 in 1910, continuing to work and to write late into her life.

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
Nightingale lived to the age of 90. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

The exhibition also recreates her London bedroom, allows visitors to smell her perfume and hear a recording of her voice.

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