Florence Nightingale's Theory: History, Components, and Applications

This report examines the nursing theory of Florence Nightingale, focusing on her environmental theory. The paper begins with a biographical overview of Nightingale, detailing her background and the context in which her theory emerged, including her experiences during the Crimean War and her commitment to improving patient care. It then outlines the major precepts and components of her theory, such as the importance of a clean and supportive environment, including ventilation, lighting, and hygiene. The report further discusses the practical applications of Nightingale's theory in contemporary nursing practice, highlighting its relevance to holistic patient care and disease prevention. The summary emphasizes the enduring influence of Nightingale's work on nursing, despite some limitations when compared to modern theories, and concludes by referencing the impact of her personality, education, and spiritual experiences on the development of her ideas.

Running head: THE THEORIST FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 1
The Theorist Florence Nightingale
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

THE THEORIST FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 2
The Theorist Florence Nightingale
The theorist Florence Nightingale was born on 12th May in the year 1820 to William and
Frances in the second year of their honeymoon ventures. Her name Florence was after the Italian
city where she was born. She was the second born child after her Parthenope the firstborn who
was born a year before her. Born to wealthy Unitarians, Florence desired to help the poor and the
sick which pushed her to convince her parents to let her go to nursing school at Kaiserswerth in
the year 1851 (Sinha, 2017). Post-graduation, she paid visits to a couple of health units in
England and Europe as a whole. She was keen on studying hospital designs and disease
incidences through reports and government publications.
The environmental theory coined by Florence Nightingale is centered on the patient’s
surroundings that are known to impact disease and death. Guided by her experiences in the
Crimean war, the ‘Lady with the Lamp,’ Nightingale was well aware of the value of sanitary
conditions and the impact of sanitary reforms on patient care. Apart from the calling and war
experiences, the environmental theory formulation was further guided by her careful examination
of the part played by environmental conditions on patient health and outcomes (Alligood, 2018).
Florence made notes on practice, they were meant to guide nursing practice when it comes to the
care of others since she solidly believed that nurses had big parts to play when it comes to
manipulation of the patient environment to aid nature in its course. Made up of 10 major canons,
her theory was bent on providing recommendations on the implementation of sound patient care
environment. They include lighting and noise, ventilation and warming, chattering advice and
giving hopes, bed, and bedding, the health of the houses, cleanliness of the rooms including
walls, food and the type of food, personal hygiene, variety, and patient observation (Alligood,
2018).

THE THEORIST FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 3
In terms of applicability, Florence writings were not particularly as teaching manuals for
nursing practice but for applicability when it comes to caring for the patient environment (Pirani,
2016). Based on her guidelines, to date, patients deserve the best condition for nature to take its
course. It is a representation of a holistic view of nursing since it goes forth to address the
mental, physical, and social aspects of a patient’s environment. For example, clean air, home,
and water are important when it comes to disease prevention and health promotion (Kaakinen,
Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015). Additionally, the proper bodily function is dependent
on sunlight and adequate nutrition. In that light, nurses ought to keep track of patient vital signs,
monitor changes in patient conditions, and likes and dislikes among many.
In finality, a section of researchers argues that Nightingales model somewhat fails to
meet the guidelines of modern theories that are backed by a great depth of research. But in
fairness, her theory has also greatly influenced nursing practice. Just like other theorists,
Nightingale was guided by her personality, educational, and spiritual experiences in coining her
ideas.

THE THEORIST FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 4
References
Alligood, M. R. (2018). Nursing theorists and their work (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Kaakinen, J., Coehlo, D., Steele, R., Tabacco, A., & Hanson, S. (2015). Family health care
nursing: Theory, practice, and research (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.
Pirani, S. S. A. (2016). Application of Nightingale ’s Theory in Nursing Practice. Ann Nurs
Pract.
Sinha, V. (2017). Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). In Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon.
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41134-1_10.