On the 6th May I went to the Florence Nightingale Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey. I was accompanied by 2 nursing colleagues of mine from the US and of course many colleagues from Cambridge and across the UK. It was a lovely and moving ceremony filled with tribute and tradition, and the symbolic passing of knowledge from one generation to the next. Professor Michael Wheeler gave the address and emphasized Florence Nightingale’s use of data and statistics to try to reform hospitals, as well as her humanity and service. I think that is an important point to make as nursing should combine the highest knowledge and scientific evidence with compassion and practical skills. I have recently been alerted to another website that illustrates the importance of Nightingale’s ‘mathematical genius’. See Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives with Statistics http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z92hsbk . It’s well worth the read.
Florence Nightingale realised that statistics if not understood would not help her accomplish reform, and that visual images could convey a message better than words and numbers. She created an easily understood ‘rose diagram’ that showed the change in mortality as a result of better sanitation in army hospitals; this was re-published and attracted public interest and support for reform. She said: “It (the Rose Diagram) should affect through the eyes what we fail to convey to the brains of the public through their word-proof ears”.
I expect that Florence Nightingale if alive today would embrace the tools of social media for getting her message across!