Lessons from the Life of Florence Nightingale

Deep as was the desire of Miss Nightingale to institute plans for the training of hospital nurses, her health, after her return from the army service, was so impaired, that to undertake the task herself was impossible. The fund of $250,000 had been placed in charge of a board of trustees and invested for the purpose of establishing a school of which she expected to be the superintendent. Her health, however, grew worse rather than better, and after two years had passed, she wrote to the Chairman of the Council of the Nightingale Fund, of her inability to carry out the plans. It became necessary to find other persons through whom she might work, without having to carry the everyday details. Her choice fell on St. Thomas' Hospital -- largely because "the matron of the hospital, Mrs. Wardroper, was a woman after Miss Nightingale's own heart, strong, devoted to her work, devoid of all self-seeking, full of decision and administrative ability. " Of this remarkable woman, Mrs. Wardroper, who for twenty-seven years was superintendent of the Nightingale School, Miss Nightingale has left a character sketch:

[A]"I saw her," she says, "first, in October, 1854, when the expedition of nurses was sent to the Crimean war. She had been then nine months matron of the great hospital in London, of which for 33 years, she remained head, and reformer of nursing. Training was then unknown; the only nurse worthy of the name that could be given to the expedition was a ‘Sister' who had been pensioned some time before and who proved invaluable. I saw her next after the conclusion of the war. She had already made her mark; she had weeded out the inefficient, morally and technically; she had obtained better women as nurses; she had put her finger on some of the most flagrant blots, such as the night nursing, and where she laid her finger, the blot was diminished as far as possible, but no training had yet been thought of.