The profession of nursing was changed by the actions of a number of females who cared for British soldiers during the Crimean War (1854-56).

Impact of the Crimean War:

First war reports were sent back to Britain via the telegraph system
The public were reading about the awful conditions experienced by sick and wounded British soldiers
Nightingale became interested in helping from a report she read in The Times
Nightingale believed God wanted her to be a nurse
She trained in Germany and Paris during the early 1850s
She worked in several hospitals in England before the outbreak of the Crimean War

After receiving government funding, Nightingale took 38 nurses with her to the British military hospital in Scutari. When they arrived in November 1854 they were shocked with the conditions of the field hospital. There were about 1,700 wounded and sick soldiers whom were suffering from cholera and typhoid and lying in filthy wards. While there was also a lack of medical supplies and army doctors did not want to see Nightingale around.

Nightingale had the support of both the Minister of War Supplies and head of the Army Medical Dept. who ensured she obtained sufficient supplies of the medical items needed. While she had financial backing from The Times.

Nightingale's first task was to clean up the wards, then patients were instructed to wash regularly and change clothes and bedding often. Patients were also separated according to their illness, and each patient was given plenty of room in a bed and windows were left open to circulate air. The death rate in the hospital in six months fell from 42 per 100 patients to 2 in every 100.

Florence Nightingale