Florence Nightingale, Nursing, and Health Care Today

by Lynn McDonald PhD LLD (Hon) (Author)

Contributes new insights to Nightingale’s relevance for nursing today

This in-depth analysis of Nightingale's legacy goes beyond established scholarship to examine her lesser known–and arguably even more important–writings beyond Notes on Nursing. The book demonstrates afresh her unparalleled and ongoing influence on professional nursing, on the core concepts of health, disease, and access to care as we understand them today. It introduces readers to the "real" Florence Nightingale – who pioneered evidence-based health care, campaigned for hospital safety, promoted economic opportunities for women, and mentored two generations of nursing leaders.

The first part of the book focuses on Nightingale's core nursing concepts: gender and women’s issues, education, health promotion, infection control, professional ethics, pediatrics, and palliative care, and how they have transcended time to influence professional nursing today. The author draws on comments from current nursing and medical literature to demonstrate the ongoing relevance of Nightingale’s work. In the second part of the book, the author presents key writings by Nightingale, including the little-known background work that shaped her iconic Notes on Nursing. It goes on to cover key later writings, which show how her ideas evolved with advances in medical science and nursing practice.

Key Features:
Expands on established scholarship to reveal Nightingale’s contributions to theory, science, and policy in greater breadth and depth
Demonstrates the remarkable relevance of her work to nursing issues today
Nightingale’s core nursing concepts of health promotion, disease prevention, and access to care
Disseminates Nightingale writing especially relevant to nursing leaders and policy advocates.

About the Author
Lynn McDonald, PhD LLD (hon), is Professor Emerita, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and editor of the 16-volume Collected Works of Florence Nightingale all peer-reviewed, along with numerous publications on sociological theory, women theorists, political sociology, criminology and the history of ideas. She is a former Member of Canada’s Parliament and a former President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, then Canada’s largest women’s organization. An environmentalist, she is co-founder of JustEarth: A Coalition for Environmental Justice, and has served on the Board of Directors of Climate Action Network Canada. When in Parliament, Dr. McDonald authored Canada’s groundbreaking legislation, the Non-smokers’ Health Act, 1988, which led the world in establishing smoke-free work and public places. In 2015, she was named a member of the prestigious Order of Canada.