Florence Nightingale and Qualitative Research

Florence Nightingale and Qualitative Research
Part 1
Evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to the judicious and conscientious use of contemporary evidence together with patient values and clinical expertise to guide in making proper decisions when providing healthcare services. Florence Nightingale was born on 12th May 1820 in an Italian city and significantly contributed to EBP through nursing (Hammer, 2020). She helped soldiers overcome typhoid, typhus, and cholera. Nightingale studied the causes of diseases and helped to improve the patients’ well-being. She was always on the frontline to ensure that sick individuals received the care they needed. In addition, Nightingale sent questionnaires and surveys to hospital administrators. She collected, analyzed, and interpreted the data to understand the pattern of various illnesses, particularly communicable diseases. Notably, Nightingale believed that using statistics helped to understand how the world works and the mind of God. All these contributions to medicine played significant roles in EBP and nursing research.
There exist several variables that piqued Nightingale’s interest in caregiving. First, Nightingale believed that healthcare is a human right and that everyone should get quality medical services. Second, she was focused on helping sick people and nothing stopped her urge despite her family being wealthy and not supporting her nursing career since it was perceived as disreputable and meant for lower-class women. Third, even after the death of 4,077 soldiers during the winter at Scutari, Nightingale did not lose hope for not understanding the importance of proper sanitation to curb the spread of cholera and typhoid (Hammer, 2020). Instead, she took it as a lesson that steered her to improving the soldiers’ lifestyles and helping individuals overcome communicable diseases. As a result, Nightingale was passionate about nursing, which is why she achieved her dream career of helping people.
Nightingale significantly impacted the nursing profession in numerous ways. Apart from staying on the battlefields to help injured soldiers, she assisted to eliminate communicable diseases that affected the military people in the camp. The most significant thing is that Nightingale understood the importance of statistics in studying vulnerable populations and helping such people. That is why in 1858, the individual became the first female to become the Royal Statistical Society’s fellow (Hammer, 2020). Nightingale also founded a nursing training institution at St. Thomas Hospital, London. She wanted many women to get the best caregiving training to help numerous individuals. In addition, Nightingale held p...