Florence Nightingale is a philanthropist, reformer, and creator of modern nursing. She is an aristocrat who left the bohemian world to help ordinary people. Nightingale became widely known for writing textbooks for nurses, as well as doing charity. Her name has become a household name for a kind and selfless person. Florence decided to give up the joys of aristocratic life in favor of charity. She made a choice to become a nurse and start working in a hospital for low-income segments of the population (Green 182). She studied in Italy, Egypt, and Greece (Green 181). Florence’s initiative was met with rejection from her parents. However, despite the disapproval from the family, the girl began to learn how to care for sick people.
Florence was engaged not only in nursing, but also in science. Even in her youth, she kept diaries in which she recorded her own conclusions and statements of other people. In addition, she wrote long letters to her sister, in which she described her professional experience. When Nightingale started teaching, she wrote her first book. The work was called “Care Notes” and was based on Florence’s curriculum (Green 181). The book has become incredibly popular among the London public (Green 183). Using modern terminology, we can say that F. Nightingale laid the foundations of management in nursing.
Medical deontology (medical bioethics in the modern interpretation) has its own history. One example of selfless service to people is the Florence Nightingale Pledge for nurses. Florence Nightingale’s oath forms the ethical code of a nurse. In her pledge, Florence Nightingale encourages future nurses to make a commitment to the Lord and in the presence of their colleagues. Medical workers should lead a righteous life worthy of their noble profession. Thus, Florence Nightingale calls for increasing the prestige of the nursing profession, in which during her time mainly girls of dubious origin were engaged (Ozcan 1). They should avoid any actions that may harm the patient and lead to their death, for example, prescribe harmful medicine. Florence Nightingale’s oath refers to the non-disclosure of personal data of the patient and the preservation of medical secrecy.
In my nursing career, I will be guided by the Nightingale Pledge. I will base my work on the universal principles of morality presented by her in the oath. The ethical criteria of professionalism that Florence Nightingale outlined will determine my relationship with all participants in the treatment and diagnostic process. I will be guided by them when communicating with the patient, their relatives and friends, the attending physician, other doctors, fellow nurses, and junior medical staff.
Florence Nightingale’s Pledge is based on the recognition as the main values in the work of a nurse of virtue, humanity, and honesty, which I will develop in myself. My professional duties as a nurse will follow from this oath. For example, I will not cause harm by actions or inaction, since the behavior of a nurse should be subordinated to the goal of the patient’s recovery. I need to be a competent employee, have the necessary stock of knowledge and strive to increase it. I should be sympathetic to the peculiarities of my profession, try to alleviate the condition of patients, and not aggravate the suffering of other people. I will keep secret the information that has become known to me due to the performance of my professional duties, since the disclosure of such information violates the rights and interests of patients. Thus, from the Pledge, I identified the main behavioral rules and principles on which my relationships with colleagues and patients should be based.
Works Cited
Green, Cheryl. “Applying the Nightingale Pledge in Reducing Health Disparities: A Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury Case Study.” Advances in Skin & Wound Care, vol. 35, no. 3, 2022, pp. 180-183.
Ozcan, Sadiye. “The Relationship Between Nurses’ Conscientious Intelligence Levels and Care Behaviors: A Cross-sectional Study.” Clinical Ethics, vol. 0, no. 0, 2021, pp. 1-8.