![]() The nurses were thrown in at deep end and didn’t have much time to adjust to these conditions as in less than a week after their arrival in Scutari the already overwhelmed hospital had received a contingent of soldiers wounded in the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman. ![]() It soon became clear to them that the majority of injured soldiers were dying from infectious diseases due to the unhygienic environment rather than their battle wounds. They found an understaffed hospital with inadequate facilities, overcrowded wards, poor sanitation, and a constant shortage of medical supplies. Plan of Skutari shewing the site of the Barracks and Hospitals published in Notes on matters affecting the health. On arrival at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari (modern day Üsküdar, a suburb of Istambul in Turkey) in early November 1854 the nurses were shocked by the horrific condition of the medical facilities in which the patients were treated. She quickly assembled a group of 38 nurses to assist in the war effort. In the midst of the Crimean War the army staff struggled to provide adequate medical care prompting Sidney Herbert (the Secretary of State at War for the British Government) to approach Florence and request her help. Maps X.6168Īlthough healthcare was already well established in England ( see our previous blog), most of the British military field hospitals were in urgent need of modernisation. The conflict was well documented by written accounts and reports which were often illustrated by numerous maps informing the general public on the progress of the campaign.Ĭomic map of the seat of war with entirely new features illustrating the political situation in Europe during the Crimean War. The Crimean War was the first modern war extensively covered by media with first-hand dispatches sent by correspondents directly from the front lines. These include battle plans, satirical maps and maps that show the seat of war within the wider region. The British Library has a multitude of maps which had been produced for the general public at the time to illustrate the conflict. Nightingale is best known for her work during the Crimean War (1853–1856), the bloody conflict between Russia and the British, French, and Ottoman Turkish allied forces. Renowned for her pioneering nursing work and the establishment of modern practices in this field, she understood the importance of well organised medical facilities and the need for trained nurses as crucial elements of efficient healthcare practice. Today the world commemorates the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.
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