For Phase One: Exploring the Artifacts, I decided to do my work on the Florence Nightingale collection-Classical Works in History of Medicine and Surgery. Though nursing, both modern and historical, is a field I know nothing about, I have really enjoyed a close examination of this collection on texts. While I am still in the beginning stages of gathering and evaluating the information of Nightingale's works, here is some of what I've come across thus far:
Most obviously, Nightingale's texts, Notes on Nursing and Notes on Affecting the Health, Efficiency, and Hospital Administration of the British Army..., are intended to encourage the importance of nursing and its purpose, while imporving the medical conditions it involves. She strives, in a truly note-like manner, to explain that nursing-that proper nursing-is effective and vital to the health of society, expecially women and children (Notes on Nursing), and soldiers (Notes on Matters...). In a matter-of-fact, unaccusitory way, Nightingale stresses that sanitary nursing is compulsory, but that her writings are not intended to be used as a guide book or manual. The best experience in the ways of the reparative process hails from a setting experience. Many tricks of the nursing trade are better learned on the job than from a book.
Notes on Matters... is simply a condensed list of diary-like entries that include letters and personal journals as well as reserve lists from both Army ranks and military health administrators. Notes on Nursing, on the other hand, is Nightingale's own text about the key areas of sanitary nursing, as seen in the reparative process. These areas, outlined one-at-a-time in short chapters, include: Good Ventilation, the Health of Houses (pure air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, light), Petty Management, Noise, Variety, Taking Food, Bed and Bedding, Light, Cleanliness of Room and Walls, Pesonal Cleanliness, Chattering and Hopes of Advices, Observation, and Conclusion. Each section includes an explanation of the importance of the area, some previous fallacies of the area, and a means of improvement of the area. Again, I appreciate Nightingale's unpretentious, logical approach to her writing. She provides ample examples to support her assertions.
In Notes on Nursing, the text from the collection I liked best, Nightingale claims that by challenging man's ability to overome sickness, God is teaching and justifying his laws. Though Nightingale makes no other religious/spiritual references and uses God, in no way, as a basis for her writing, this stood out to me nonetheless. It was casually thrown in at the beginning of Notes on Nursing, but is not brought up again. It is as if, Nightingale accepts this as a truth, invites her reader/student to do the same, but will not be perturbed if he/she does not agree. In the end, what is most important to Nightingale is that she educate the public on the importance of sanitary nursing first on an individual level in the hopes of improving the field as a whole.
Upon my return to the Lilly and further analysis and understanding of Nightingale's texts I would like to get better feel for who she was writing to. I think I will need to learn a bit more about the actual conditions of the nursing field during her active time and what impact she had on them. Florence Nightingale's name is world-renown now, but I don't know if she had as great of an impact while she worked. I would also like to know whether she had any adversaries-that would be interesting because I cannot imagine who would want to hinder health care. Finally, I would like to know if the few religious implications from Notes on Nursing are more important and influential to her work than I am currently led to believe. I look forward to digging deeper!
3 comments:
Meaghan,
I know nothing about nursing either, but your research definitely gives me a very clear idea of what Nightingale is talking about with relation to the field. One thing that really struck me was Nightingale's claim that, "proper nursing-is effective and vital to the health of society." This reminded me of when Gilman said, "the tendency to care for, defend and manage a group, is in its origin maternal."(66-67) Especially in relation to Army nursing, this could illustrate a connection to the existence of maternal tendencies in nursing, perhaps that you could look into any links between Nightingale's idea of "proper nursing" and maternal instincts. Also in Nightingale's thought about nursing being vital, I wonder who she is speaking to in her writing? Is she trying to make an argument for nursing to be seen as more important than it currently is, or is she talking to people who already accept its importance and are looking to improve the field? (I believe you were already intending to further research who her audience is anyway, may I suggest maybe using Ong to help?)
By the way, I too am curious, since you brought it up, about the reference to spirituality; perhaps there is some sort of moral code that Nightingale is inherently using withing nursing? Biographical research might be a good place to look for insight on this; maybe she mentioned God just because it was part of her personal thought process, which in turn you could take that personal moral code and see if it surfaces anywhere else in her writing.
Meaghan,
I also did Florence Nightingale and agree on your opinion on "Notes on Nursing". I do like how she expanded on her ideas of "proper nursing" like you said.
I also wondered the same thing...who is her audience? Though she does clearly explain what her point is in "Notes on Nursing" she does not seem to address a specific set of people. Perhaps this means that she is using a broad audience (like you stated, perhaps one which has already come to terms with nursing's importance)? I suggest that we instead combine the two ideas for an audience, mainly because we do not know who she intended this for. She makes a convincing argument, which may sway a person who doubts nursing's importance and for one who already knows of it's necessity and wishes to learn more.
Meaghan,
Although I have not read any of Florence Nightingale's writing, you have done an excellent job in clarifying her main points for the reader. Your analysis and the connections you make between her different texts are easy to understand, and you make the subject interesting.
Since I wrote about The Contagious Diseases Acts, I am interested to see if there may be any connection between the events Florence Nightingale wrote about and the Acts themselves. The Acts were put into affect in 1866, do you think there is any chance that they could have influenced or been influenced by Florence Nightingale's writing? When did Nightingale write this collection? I think there could definitely be some correlation between Nightingale's encouragement of ventilation, cleanliness, and pureness in order to maintain good health. I could very well be wrong, but there may be something there.
I think that your plans for further investigation are exactly what I would look into as well. The impact of Nightingale's writing is especially intriguing to me given her gender and the time that she wrote-- did anyone listen to her back then despite the fact that she was a woman?
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