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Florence nightingale museum
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Midwifery
0, ,,,0 000s
0~00,~1000
NEWS
Florence Nightingale Museum 'Lying-in is neither a disease nor an accident and any fatality attending it is not to be counted as so much percent of inevitable loss. On the contrary, a death in childbed.., is nothing short of a calamity which it is right that we should all know about, to avoid it in the future.' It is salutary that so much of what Florence Nightingale wrote is still relevant today, in midwifery no less than in the many other spheres to which she directed her analytical mind. Midwives will recognise the introduction above, from her 1871 'Notes on Lying-in Institutions'. They are one of the features at the new permanent exhibition in London, opened by Princess Alexandra in February 1989. Appropriately, the Florence Nightingale Museum is in the undercroft of the Nightingale School, founded in 1860 but never visited by its namesake. The collection provides an historical survey of the life and work of the great Victorian, together with fascinating memorabilia, including early editions of many of her publications and a selection from her prolific correspondence. The wide range of letters and papers on nursing matters includes her annual exhortations to probationer nurses at the Nightingale School, and letters of advice and encouragement to trained staff who subsequently took up posts as superintendents of nursing schools in Britain and abroad--notably to Germany, Sweden, Canada, the USA, Australia, India and Ceylon. Examples of the small gifts she made to them on their appointments found their way back to St Thomas's collection of 'Nightingalia' and are now on view. Many of the touching artefacts relate to the heroine's exploits during the Crimean War which, although accounting for only 2 years of a remarkable career, are so much of her public image. While the almost immediate improvements Florence effected for the troops on her arrival at Scutari--general hygiene, diet, crea100
ture comforts--are well documented, less generally known are the achievements she reported in a letter to Sidney Herbert a month after her arrival. The exhibition cites, 'a lying-in hospital begun' and 'widows and soldiers' wives relieved and attended to.' This is not surprising when one remembers that although promotion of nurse training was her primary objective, midwifery was also close to her caring heart. She always regretted not having had time to effect similar improvements in midwifery training and practice, wanting it to be an occupation for educated women and supporting Rosalind Paget in this. Having established a half-year course at her Midwifery School at King's College Hospital in 1861, she wrote, 'In nearly every country but our own there is a Government School for midwives. I trust that our school may lead the way towards supplying a long-felt want in England.' In the event, it proved a model for the UK. At her insistence women trained there were certified only as 'midwifery nurses', the 'midwife' title being reserved for those qualified to deal with all labours, normal and abnormal. The exhibition chronicles this but devotes more space to her participation in the development of district nursing and health visiting, the Nightingale achievements for midwifery having fallen short of her own aspirations. Serious students of all disciplines will appreciate the room set aside in the museum for study. Audiovisual services and computer technology are already available and the trustees plan a research and resource centre contributing to promotion of the nursing profession. It is hoped that a data bank on options tbr progressive nursing education and career development will become linked with a counselling service, offering support for those in positions of leadership, both at ward sister and more senior levels at home and abroad. Among the Trust's more ambitious projects are the possibilities of offering bursaries for study
MID~ArIFERY
of clinical care and its management, and perhaps even a Chair of Clinical Nursing Practice--such innovations, like all the activities, obviously depending on the centre's fhnding. Among generous donations ensuring the success of the project to date are those from nurses and their institutions, including the Japanese Nursing Association and Japanese Red Cross Nurses-tribute, if any were needed, to the universality of the Lady of the Lamp.
101
St Thomas's Hospital is reached easily from Westminster and Waterloo Underground/BR stations, and by the many buses crossing Westminster Bridge. The museum is open from 10.00 to 16.00 hrs Tuesday to Saturday (Sunday opening is planned from May.) Admission is £2, with £1 concession for students.) MOLLY LOBBAN
Associate Editor Midwifery
Midwifery
0, ,,,0 000s
0~00,~1000
NEWS
Florence Nightingale Museum 'Lying-in is neither a disease nor an accident and any fatality attending it is not to be counted as so much percent of inevitable loss. On the contrary, a death in childbed.., is nothing short of a calamity which it is right that we should all know about, to avoid it in the future.' It is salutary that so much of what Florence Nightingale wrote is still relevant today, in midwifery no less than in the many other spheres to which she directed her analytical mind. Midwives will recognise the introduction above, from her 1871 'Notes on Lying-in Institutions'. They are one of the features at the new permanent exhibition in London, opened by Princess Alexandra in February 1989. Appropriately, the Florence Nightingale Museum is in the undercroft of the Nightingale School, founded in 1860 but never visited by its namesake. The collection provides an historical survey of the life and work of the great Victorian, together with fascinating memorabilia, including early editions of many of her publications and a selection from her prolific correspondence. The wide range of letters and papers on nursing matters includes her annual exhortations to probationer nurses at the Nightingale School, and letters of advice and encouragement to trained staff who subsequently took up posts as superintendents of nursing schools in Britain and abroad--notably to Germany, Sweden, Canada, the USA, Australia, India and Ceylon. Examples of the small gifts she made to them on their appointments found their way back to St Thomas's collection of 'Nightingalia' and are now on view. Many of the touching artefacts relate to the heroine's exploits during the Crimean War which, although accounting for only 2 years of a remarkable career, are so much of her public image. While the almost immediate improvements Florence effected for the troops on her arrival at Scutari--general hygiene, diet, crea100
ture comforts--are well documented, less generally known are the achievements she reported in a letter to Sidney Herbert a month after her arrival. The exhibition cites, 'a lying-in hospital begun' and 'widows and soldiers' wives relieved and attended to.' This is not surprising when one remembers that although promotion of nurse training was her primary objective, midwifery was also close to her caring heart. She always regretted not having had time to effect similar improvements in midwifery training and practice, wanting it to be an occupation for educated women and supporting Rosalind Paget in this. Having established a half-year course at her Midwifery School at King's College Hospital in 1861, she wrote, 'In nearly every country but our own there is a Government School for midwives. I trust that our school may lead the way towards supplying a long-felt want in England.' In the event, it proved a model for the UK. At her insistence women trained there were certified only as 'midwifery nurses', the 'midwife' title being reserved for those qualified to deal with all labours, normal and abnormal. The exhibition chronicles this but devotes more space to her participation in the development of district nursing and health visiting, the Nightingale achievements for midwifery having fallen short of her own aspirations. Serious students of all disciplines will appreciate the room set aside in the museum for study. Audiovisual services and computer technology are already available and the trustees plan a research and resource centre contributing to promotion of the nursing profession. It is hoped that a data bank on options tbr progressive nursing education and career development will become linked with a counselling service, offering support for those in positions of leadership, both at ward sister and more senior levels at home and abroad. Among the Trust's more ambitious projects are the possibilities of offering bursaries for study
MID~ArIFERY
of clinical care and its management, and perhaps even a Chair of Clinical Nursing Practice--such innovations, like all the activities, obviously depending on the centre's fhnding. Among generous donations ensuring the success of the project to date are those from nurses and their institutions, including the Japanese Nursing Association and Japanese Red Cross Nurses-tribute, if any were needed, to the universality of the Lady of the Lamp.
101
St Thomas's Hospital is reached easily from Westminster and Waterloo Underground/BR stations, and by the many buses crossing Westminster Bridge. The museum is open from 10.00 to 16.00 hrs Tuesday to Saturday (Sunday opening is planned from May.) Admission is £2, with £1 concession for students.) MOLLY LOBBAN
Associate Editor Midwifery