May 12 is the birthdate of Florence Nightingale (Florence, Italy, 12 May, 1820 – London, August 13, 1910), and since 1965 it is International Nurses Day.
Florence Nightingale’s work and vision professionalised nursing roles (in the beginning just for women). The establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital in London is the founding act that revolutionised nurses’ lives forever.
It was the first secular nursing school in the world, and is now part of King’s College London. Sure enough, in the following years the idea, the method and the system spread out to the rest of the world. Remarkably, one of her earliest battles was to introduce simple hygienic practices, such as handwashing, into the Crimean War field hospitals: something that is now well established.
Nightingale’s studies materialised as general improvements in healthcare (preventive medicine and holistic health) and hunger relief efforts in India. She battled for abolition of state regulated prostitution (very harsh for women) and in general expanded the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce.
Much of her work dealt with spreading medical knowledge. Many of her papers were written in simple English so that they could easily be understood by those with poor literary skills. She was also a pioneer in the use of infographics.
Moving forward to current times, the World Health Organisation has declared 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. On that occasion Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said: “Nurses and midwives are the backbone of every health system: in 2020 we’re calling on all countries to invest in nurses and midwives as part of their commitment to health for all.”
Through Nightigale’s work, nurses finally gained the status they deserved, also getting recognized as healthcare professionals by the general public.
FH has been conceiving and producing trolleys for almost 50 years now. When showing our products we deal with all decision makers of a healthcare structure, from the general manager to physicians, from medical engineers to chief nurses. But the main user is made up of nursing personnel, and this is exactly who we have in mind when we come up with ideas, solutions, designs and features.
All of our trolleys have been designed for those who use them. And so it’s only obvious that our thoughts go out to nursing personnel all over the world on this May 12, as all other days as well.
Thank you all for your hard work!