Notes on Nursing: What it Is, and What it Is Not Paperback – September 10, 2007

As a Registered Nurse for over 26 years, I have never read this work before. It was free on Kindle and came highly recommended. What a wonderful glimpse of the foundations of nursing. Although it can be viewed as a historical text, it also is fine contemporary reading. As nurses, we become so focused on the science and technology,(and dare I say, overrun by the weight of our workloads and liability that comes with it) the ability to "minister" to the human being before us is lost.. daily barriers prevent us from providing the "care" that is fundamental. Interventions such as light, fresh air, sleep and comfort and "quieting of the mind from excessive worry" are not just interventions to be used in the absence of technology but as an important adjunct to it. Also in the spirit of taking care of ourselves, this work contains valuable insights for us as well. Elegant historical prose is refreshing. She was indeed a wise visionary. As I was reading, I wondered what she would say about nursing today...

* Florence was a compassionate and observant nurse who understood the physical and psychological needs of her patients. She observed how the innocuous actions of staff and visitors could distress patients and delay their healing. Her insights can help readers increase their sensitivity to people who are ill.* The book offers good advice regarding the importance of cleanliness. Though her points seem obvious and possibly overstated, it's likely that most people don't give as much attention to the airing of rooms and letting in of sunshine as they should. Her advice is important and relevant to everyone.* The book explains how poor building construction contributed to illness and disease over a century ago. This knowledge is still valuable for people in design / construction to avoid mistakes of the past.

It was so extraordinarily interesting to read Nightingale, to reflect on teh times she wrote these notes and how they resonate today. It reminds one that patient care and their safety and interests should be the focus; that the provision of nursing care is about getting those citizens well or home or pain free. The language is somewhat archiac, paragraphs long but the content tells of battles and striving to win over a developing heltah care industry that todya cna count the costs but not necessailry tell the story. Put a chapter a month on final year students web page.

I read this book as part of my nursing education in the early 1960's. It was good to read it again from a non-academic viewpoint. A modern reader might be tempted to think her recommendations are so obvious in light of today's scientific knowledge, but much of her insights were groundbreaking for her time. I especially appreciate her stress on the importance of the nurse's observation of details. Much of what a nurse might attribute to "intuition" is really a result of careful observation and interpretation of what she sees. Miss Nightingale also saw as important the nurse's management of the patient's care, so that all persons involved in the care knew the plan of care and followed through on it when the nurse was not present. Again, very forward thinking. She was a forerunner in establishing nursing as a profession separate from the practice of medicine.

First I am an RN (an OLD RN) and to me modern Nursing began with Miss Nightingale. Prior to her works hospitals were a place to be feared. Nurses were women who were paid in Port Wine and worked 20 hour days carrying slop buckets and then delivering meal trays or changing bandages. Miss Nightingale along with Dr Ignaz Semmelweis on th emedical side,brought the simple idea of cleanliness equals health to the public. The simple act of hand washing and circulating air by opening windows made dramatic changes in a patient's chance of survival. Prior to that era doctors would go from autopsy to surgery to office hours and never wash their hands or change their bloody coat. (That's just nasty isn't it?)Now the younger Nurses I know say Miss Nightingale was old fashioned and something of a prude as it came to what a Nurse is. Well maybe so, but if it had not been for someone beginning a school to educate Professional Nurses there would not BE the career/calling/occupation of A NURSE for the past century or more. We don't wear aprons, don't wear caps, don't salute the doctors, but we DO make all the difference in patient care. Thank you Miss Nightingale for being A NURSE!I downloaded this as a free book, but just as well would have paid for a hard copy as it is a classic beauty in my opinion.

I am currently half way through the book. What I have discovered early is that Florence was definately ahead of her time in the science of nursing. The book helps to bring the reader back to the main purpose of medicine which is to improve upon the patients quality of life. I thus far have really enjoyed this book and recommend it to others both experienced in the field and new.

This is a classic and I recommend that it be read by all nurses. Nightingale was a pioneer. She established the dignity and importance of educated nursing care for the care of the sick -- and for the health of the community. While it may seem quaint at some points, the importance of her basic insistence on sanitation cannot be over emphasized. It was a new idea in Victorian England! It remains very important in modern health care with the rise of super infections which resist antibiotics. Note: The first antibiotic was not available to health care of that era -- the first antibiotic was penicillin, used initially to treat sypillis in soldiers during WW II.

Dover books categorizes this book in biology and yet nursing is so much more than the biology of those in our care. If you want to know what makes nursing so special and valued, read this book. If you want to impress your nursing instructors cite this book in you papers. Nightingale is where nursing began and needs to value.