Learning Nursing Qualities through the life of Florence Nightingale and Catherine McAuley
Nursing is one of the essential professionals that focus on ensuring good health in society and ensuring everyone has access to affordable and high-quality care. Everyone in society deserves to live healthy and free of any complications. Nursing is the primary profession that ensures people’s lives are well taken care of. Further, nurses should provide public free health education members to help prevent any ailments before they occur. Florence Nightingale is a highly respected person in the nursing community who is majorly regarded as the nursing career’s precipice. On the other hand, Catherine used her role as a sister to help many people attain formal education, among different needs. This paper looks extensively at the various qualities displayed by the Nightingale and McAuley and how they can help develop the nursing profession. Specifically, the identified qualities include perseverance, compassion towards others, commitment, pioneering, and finally inspiring others.
Background of Catherine and Florence
Catherine McAuley was born in the late 18th century and lived until 1841 (Stolley, 2017). She was born in Ireland to catholic parents. However, her father died when she was only five years old. Her mother also died a few years later, following the death of her father. As a result, she was forced to live with her relatives, who were protestants. She is better known for using her inheritance to open a house called the house of mercy, which focused on helping poor women in society and training their children.
Florence Nightingale, on the other hand, was born in 1820. She was a statistician and an English reformer. However, many people consider her as the founder of the modern nursing profession. Her prominence was unveiled to the public following her role as a trainer of nurses and managers in the Crimean war. His role was mainly to cater to the needs of wounded soldiers in the war. She majorly advocated for the women’s role in the nursing practice and even opened a nursing school in St. Thomas hospital. She mainly advocated for preventive care and understood the importance of ensuring proper health by regulating environmental factors. Like Catherine, Nightingale possessed some essential traits that nurses can use to improve modern nursing practice quality.
Qualities Depicted through Nightingale/McAuley
One of the most important similarities between the two is the quality of perseverance. The two women not only taught on the importance of perseverance but also experienced it throughout their lives. Both women had to endure several life challenges to become successful. First, Catherine was forced to develop strategies to help her share engage with others since she was dismissed due to her faith. At one particular point in her life, Catherine was forced to live with William Armstrong, her relative, who was very intolerant of the catholic faith (Stolley, 2017). As a result, Catherine endured a trying period and criticism due to her faith. However, she never gave up on her faith (Stolley, 2017).
Florence also went through trying episode when developing her career as a nurse. Unlike modern nurses who serve in a peaceful environment, Florence was working in a hazardous environment. She had to endure the threats and possible attacks during the Crimean War to help the wounded nurses. Additionally, Florence was brought up in a well to do family, which did not experience hardships as seen in other social classes. Despite her status, she persevered in serving everyone in the military regardless of their status.
The second important quality shared by the two is being compassionate and showing empathy towards others. Both Catherine and Florence had a deep awareness of the sufferings people underwent and offered solutions to them. Florence majorly focused on helping the suffering soldiers during the war. For instance, she was moved by the poor condition’s soldiers were living in, such as lack of medical supplies, short baths with only 14 baths for more than 2000 soldiers, lack of clean towels, and deplorable living conditions. Nightingale then used her income to purchase 200 towels for the soldiers, supplied the soldiers with clean shirts, soaps, and utensils to help them live a comfortable life (Fee & Garofalo, 2010). She noted that patients mainly suffer due to apprehension, expectation, fear of surprise, and even prolonged waiting. As a result, she advocated for nurses always to use their skills and expertise to care for the patients in a more compassionate and empathetic manner (Maben, Cornwell & Sweeney, 2010).
Catherine was also a very compassionate person who focused on helping the needy in society. She not only cared for her needs but also understood that the poor needed help too. She used her inheritance to build the house of mercy, intended to help the poor women and children in society. She was also joined by other compassionate women who devoted their time and resources to help them. In the house of mercy, McAuley provided the homeless people shelter, food, and even helped their children get a formal education (Stolley, 2017).
Thirdly, both Florence and Catherine remained committed to their services in caring for others. Commitment is a rare quality for many people in the world today. Florence is an excellent example of a committed person. She had a calling to become a nurse and help others. She did not receive any payment for her job but continued to deliver quality and free services to people. She committed not only her resources but also a time in helping the needy in society. With her small group of nurses, she decided to go into the Crimean War to help soldiers wounded in the war (Shetty, 2016). She did not complain of nurse burnout or even regretted becoming a nurse. In essence, she used her life to teach people that caring for others should not be considered as a job only but also as a mission. This form of commitment, considering her wealthy background, can only be said to be arduous.
Catherine, just like Florence, was also a very committed person. She remained committed to her mission of helping others regardless of their background. She did not receive any payments or donations to run the house of mercy but only used her inheritance to touch many lives. In addition to her mission of helping others, Catherine remained very committed to her catholic faith. During her childhood, she moved through different families who attempted to convert her faith into becoming a protestant. She never compromised her calling to serve the Lord as a sister; thus, she started the mercy foundation sisters. Her level of commitment was also exemplary (Kwasky & Corrigan, 2016).
The two women are also regarded as pioneers in their fields. Catherine had a special calling to help other catholic believers express mercy and compassion to others. She then used her faith and inheritance to become the founder of the sisters of mercy foundation. Although she never envisioned founding a community of religious women, she believed that religious women would better society through the sisters of mercy foundation. Today, the foundation’s sisters are one of the leading international religious congregations devoted to helping the community’s needy.
Florence was also a pioneer in the field of nursing. She is regarded as the founder of modern nursing practice. Her contributions to modern nursing are quite numerous. On arrival at the army hospital during the Crimean war, she made radical changes in the hospital to address the hospital’s issues, including the overcrowding of patients, dirty clothes on the bed, sewage on the floor, and rotting animals and even contaminated water. Within a few months in the war, she had reduced overcrowding, improved sanitization in hospitals, and provided proper ventilation. In addition to improving conditions in the hospitals, she went ahead to train nurses. She even trained the first trained nurse in the country (Shetty, 2016).
Finally, both women could inspire other women whom they worked or interacted with. Florence Nightingale is an excellent example of inspiration. She inspired several women to become nurses and even joined her as she served the injured soldiers. She had trained, inspired, and trained more than thirty soldiers who went to help the soldiers. She inspired many nurses through her activities, such as bringing improvements in the nursing homes.
Similarly, Catherine McAuley inspired many women to be compassionate and help those in need. She inspired different women who appreciated her idea of establishing the house of mercy. She also encouraged many in her house of mercy through her catechetical instructions. She also taught young women how to needle and even opened a shop to sell their items.
Lessons for Nurses from Florence/McAuley Qualities
Florence and Catherine are indeed great women who devoted their time and resources to help others in society. Modern nurses should be very compassionate and empathetic when dealing with patients. Nurses should not discriminate against any patient due to their social status in society. The two women proved that nurses need to deliver quality services to the patients selflessly. Secondly, perseverance is a virtue that all nurses need. In most cases, nurses are expected to work in different areas attending to other kinds of patients. Therefore, they need always to persevere hardship and even an unfriendly working environment just the same way Florence and Catherine persevered in their service to humanity.
Thirdly, it is imperative for nurses always to remain committed to their calling. One of the factors contributing to increased turnover and low job satisfaction is low levels of commitment. Nursing should be approached as a calling. Next, nurses need to become pioneers in their fields, coming up with new solutions to everyday working environments. Nurses should engage in research activities and leverage technology, which will help increase the quality of care.
Conclusion
Florence Nightingale and Catherine McAuley continue to inspire many people today for their commitment to helping others in society. Many articles have been written on the two praising their selfless and compassionate nature towards humanity. Similarly, nurses are called to serve humanity and ensure patients receive quality services anywhere, anytime.
References
Fee, E., & Garofalo, M. E. (2010). Florence nightingale and the Crimean War. American journal of public health, 100(9), 1591.
Kwasky, A., & Corrigan, C. (2016). Nursing in the Mercy Traditions: Engaging Students in the Life of Catherine McAuley. Journal of Christian Nursing, 33(4), 244-248.
Maben, J., Cornwell, J., & Sweeney, K. (2010). In praise of compassion.
Shetty, A. P. (2016). Florence nightingale: The queen of nurses. Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences, 4(1), 144.
Stolley, A. F. (2017). An Invitation to listen: Catherine McAuley, conversion, and religious difference in 19th Century Ireland. Peitho Journal, 19(2), 234-250.