Design: Primary document review with word and concept identification.

Sample and Years: Nightingale’s major productive years of 1853 through 1893.

Concept Studied: Major concepts were health, holism, sanitation and nursing registration.

Methods: Primary document review including newly discovered materials from Harley Street, letters from Nightingale, Quain’s ‘Dictionary’ articles, and ‘Sick Nursing and Health Nursing’ were examined.

Findings: The great exhibitions, particularly the Columbian Exhibition of 1893, were major vehicles for Nightingale to convey her thoughts on professional nursing and her concern about health practices of the general public. Although rarely in the public eye after her return from the Crimea, she was an effective- if reclusive- campaigner who created effective social change.

Conclusions: The great exhibitions were ideological battlegrounds for major professional points of discussion such as nursing registration. The analysis of Sick Nursing and Health Nursing in the context of the 1890s provides an assessment of Nightingale’s relevance and her emphasis on holism in nursing and health of the populous as motivating professional concepts.

Implications: The value of historical research in nursing lies in defining the past and in determining the impact on the present and future of the profession. Nightingale, as the foundational philosopher of nursing, continues to have significant influence on the profession’s development.

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Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004