Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

When Florence Nightingale wrote "Notes on Nursing" it was 1860.  Methods of treating the sick were severely limited. She wrote this book as a guide for non-trained women to refer to in the treatment of their sick and dying.  She was a fanatic on cleanliness and her passion for fresh air in treating the sick is well documented.  She reports:

          A dark house is always an unhealthy house, always an ill-aired house, always dirty.  Want of light stops growth, and promotes scrofula, rickets, etc. among children (Nightingale, 1860, p.28).

Scrofula is  Cervical Tuberculosis most often affecting lymph nodes ( McClay & Meyers, 2011).   Fresh air was a standard treatment for those suffering from TB during her time.  We all know Rickets comes from a vitamin D deficiency. Some of you might have worked, during your career ,in older hospitals that had large sun rooms and lots of windows specific for treating TB ( they were called sanatoriums).  The extra Vitamin D from the sun was a perk.

Thank you all for joining me.

References

McClay, J. E. & Meyers, A. D. (2011). Scrofula Overview.  Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/articl;e/858234-overview

Nightingale, F. (1860). Notes on nursing.  What it is and what it is not. New York, NY: Dover Publications.