Nursing People all over the world work as

Nursing People all over the world work as nurses today. It is a very difficult job. What sort of person do you think would make a good nurse? Think, pair, share Nurses need to be: Caring Patient Calm Organised Good at working as part of a team or on their own.

The First Nurses How people nursed in the past and how people nurse today has changed a lot. People have always nursed but hundreds of years ago nurses were not respected. There was no training and many hospitals were disorganised and dirty. There were lots of wars in the 1900 s and more nurses were needed. How people nursed changed forever with Florence Nightingale’s help and the work of other nurses around the world.

Florence Nightingale was born in 1820. In 1854 she travelled to Turkey and was put in charge of helping nurse soldiers injured during the Crimean War. While she was there, she organised supplies of food, medicines and bandages. She also made sure that soldiers were cared for as comfortably as possible. She returned to England a hero two years later. Did You Know…? She became known as the Lady with the Lamp because she used to walk the hospital wards at night, checking on the soldiers

Nursing in Hospitals Florence Nightingale understood the importance of: • Good organisation; • regular observations of patients and keeping notes; • and keeping hospitals, staff and equipment clean. She used her experience to train other nurses at the Nightingale School of Nurses, which she opened in 1860. It was the first proper nurse training school. Did You Know…? International Nurses Day is on May 12 th. It celebrates her birthday and the work of nurses all over the world.

Mary Seacole was born in Jamaica in 1805. In 1844, she helped care for people with Yellow Fever, a disease that spread very quickly and made lots of people ill. She later travelled to help soldiers injured in the Crimean War but was turned away because of the colour of her skin. Mary set up her own hospital, which she called the ‘British Hotel’, where she treated the injured soldiers herself. Did You Know…? Mary sometimes used herbal remedies, where she ground up plants and herbs. Some of these remedies are still used today.

Louisa Jordan was born in Scotland in 1878. She worked in hospitals as a nurse before travelling overseas to help ill and injured soldiers during the First World War. She was put in charge of a fever ward in Serbia. Thousands of people had died of a fever called typhus, which spread quickly because the hospitals were crowded and dirty. She died from typhus, aged 36. Every year, people in Serbia remember her bravery and that of other nurses. Did You Know…? A temporary hospital in Glasgow has been named after her.

Nursing Today • The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was set up in 1916 and it is where nurses can go to get help or advice about their work. • In 1948, the National Health Service (NHS) was set up. This meant that everyone in the UK could get free medical help. • There are many different types of nurses, such as children’s nurses, adult nurses and accident and emergency nurses. • People can go to university or to nursing school to train to be a nurse.