Nurses Week Reflection: The Crimea, Nightingale, and Tubman Connection

Nurses Week Reflection: The Crimea, Nightingale, and Tubman Connection

The month of May is probably the most celebrated month of the year. The list, reflecting a very busy calendar, includes Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Armed Forces Day, the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May —this might be more than a day’s celebration—and Cinco de Mayo. That’s not all. Starting on May 6th through the 12th, as you swab your wounds from the disappointing performance of your favorite steed at Churchill Downs, celebrating our 3.1 million nurses should also be on the list.

In 1982, the US Congress designated the 6th of May as National Nurses Day, but it actually goes back to an October 1954 week-long celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the queen of nurses, Florence Nightingale, for her service during the Crimean War. Yes, the same Crimea Russia just annexed. Nightingale, accompanied by 38 volunteer nurses, was put in charge of caring for British soldiers in Turkey during the War. Her efforts to formalize nursing education begun during the war, which led her to establish in 1860 the first scientifically based nursing school—the Nightingale School of Nursing, at St. Thomas’ Hospital after her return to London. International Nurses Day, observed annually on May 12, commemorates her birth and celebrates the important role of nurses in health care.

Understanding her connection to Crimea begins with an understanding of the reason for the war. In October 1853 the Turkish Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia following a series of disputes over holy places in Jerusalem and Russian demands to exercise protection over the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman sultan. The British and the French, allies of Turkey, sought to curb Russian expansion. The majority of the Crimean War was fought on the Crimean Peninsula. However, the British troop base and hospitals for the care of the sick and wounded soldiers were primarily established in Scutari, a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey.

The care of the wounded soldiers had been reported to the London Times by the first modern war correspondent, British journalist William Howard Russell, who described the medical treatment provided by the establishment as incompetent and ineffective. The most basic care supplies were either unavailable or inadequate. Between June and August, 20% of the British troops were infected with cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery, and about 1,000 died before a shot was fired. This triggered an enormous public outcry in Britain and a demand that the situation be drastically improved. Nightingale arrived in Turkey on October 21, 1854, but received a hostile reception from medical officers at Scutari hospital and barracks.

She described the conditions she found as unsanitary, supplies inadequate, staff uncooperative, and overcrowding severe. Cholera was raging and the nurses were not allowed to visit the hospital wards. So she set about recruiting soldiers’ wives to assist with the laundry and cleaning the wards. Nightingale eventually established standards of care, requiring such necessities as bathing, clean clothing, and dressings, and adequate food, which the nurses carried out. She wandered the wards at night, providing support to the patients; this earned her the title of “Lady with the Lamp.” Two years into the war, Nightingale began the first of several excursions to Crimea, but they were cut short because she fell ill with “Crimean fever,” believed to be brucellosis, and it is believed she probably contracted from drinking contaminated milk. She returned home on August 7, 1856, as a reluctant heroine.

While Florence Nightingale was going about the business of establishing the procedures for scientific nursing in Britain, the US was moving ever so inexorably towards Civil War over slavery, and Harriett Tubman, a slave who engineered the Underground Railroad that afforded freedom for hundreds of slaves, would emerge a distinguished nurse and military tactician on the side of the Union Army Forces.

In 1863, when a decision was made to use black troops, Tubman was motivated to become a nurse for a regiment. When the famous Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official “colored” units in the Civil War, marched away from Boston, she followed a few days later with a commission in her pocket from Governor John A. Andrew, a popular abolitionist. In July of that year, she led troops under the command of Colonel James Montgomery in the Combahee River expedition, disrupting Southern supply lines by destroying bridges and railroads. The mission also freed more than 750 slaves.

Tubman is credited not only with significant leadership responsibilities for the mission itself, but was also able to calm the slaves and keep the situation under control. It was reported that General Rufus Saxton reported the raid to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton saying that to the best of his knowledge the success of the mission represented the only military command in American history where a woman irrespective of race led, originated, and conducted the raid. Tubman used her nursing skills and her knowledge of herbs to bring relief to the soldiers suffering from dysentery, a condition that also confronted Nightingale. Tubman learned this remedy during her years living as a slave in Maryland.

Tubman’s experience was in sharp contrast to the experience of Florence Nightingale who, as a nurse to British soldiers fighting to defend the powerful Ottoman Empire, was actually helping to maintain a slave society in that part of Europe and Asia – society that existed into the early 20th century. The Crimean Khanate within the Ottoman Empire had become a major slave exporting region. It raided the surrounding neighbors of Eastern Europeans, Ukrainians, Poles, and Caucasians among others, exporting them throughout the Empire. Black slaves imported from Egypt were forced to become eunuchs to serve their owners’ families.

Both Florence Nightingale and Harriett Tubman travelled very different roads in service to mankind and both have left a legacy worthy of celebration as we consider the contributions of our modern-day nurses.


James Z. Daniels, MPA, MSc, is a consultant and writer who lives in Durham, NC.

Be Good to Yourself During National Nurses Week

Be Good to Yourself During National Nurses Week

National Nurses Week kicks off tomorrow and is a great time for nurses to take a breath and think about all the reasons they have chosen the career path they are in. With all the opportunities available to nurses today, national nurses week not only honors nurses everywhere, but also helps connect nurses and shows them all the different ways they make a difference.

As a nurse, take the time this week to celebrate, either with your organization, your family, or just by doing something nice for yourself.

“Nurses don’t take the time to stop and reflect about their work,” says Germielynn Melendez, DNP, MSN, RNC-OB, and a national associate professor of International Studies at Chamberlain College of Nursing. “The everyday nurse doesn’t take the time to do that because they are so busy with their personal and professional lives.”

But this week is different – it’s a great time to reconnect with your profession and with other nurses. Go out to lunch with colleagues or even make a point to see the new documentary, The American Nurse. If you are part of a nurses’ professional organization and haven’t been to a meeting in a while, check in sometime this month to catch up on the latest news. Send out Facebook posts to fellow nurses, giving them a shout out and wishing them a great week. Or post about what you are working on that’s important to you.

Catch up on nurses’ blogs, from the professional (like the Minority Nurse blog or Chamberlain’s blog) to the personal, to give you an idea of what other nurses are doing, thinking, and working on. Allnurses.com is inviting nurses and those who love them to post a personalized message or note of appreciation beginning tomorrow, May 6. Simply go to the site, click on the “Thank a Nurse” button, and leave a note which you can then share on social media, too.

Melendez suggests nurses dig a littler deeper as well. Reflect on all the lives you have changed or touched during your years as a nurse, she says. Writing about what you feel on the job, how you interact with patients, how certain patients change you forever, and even all your joys and frustrations can help you begin a record of why your job is so critical. You don’t have to write specifics, Melendez says, but just keep a record so you can look back.

Writing down notes and observations about your career is something to do just for you, so make it as basic or creative as you want.

“We don’t appreciate ourselves,” says Melendez, “and sometimes we are very humble. We just do the work we do.”

 

3 Morning Time-Savers

3 Morning Time-Savers

Getting ready in the morning is a frantic, stressful time for many people. Getting yourself ready can be difficult enough, but if you have children, mornings are often a race against the clock.

You want to arrive at work calm and ready to take on your day. Nursing can be a stressful and emotional job, so the less you stress before your shift, the better nurse you’ll be when you get to work. Here are a few tips to help your mornings, or whenever you’re getting ready to head to work, run smoothly. You may know these tips already, but actually implementing them is what will give your morning routine a makeover. Give yourself a challenge to do all of them for one week and see how you feel.

Who, What, Wear

Before you turn in for the night, lay out full outfits for yourself and your kids. Have everything ready right down to everyone’s shoes and socks. If you spend time in the morning searching for missing shoes, you’re adding to your stress, not to mention wasting time. It’s a good time to see if your work uniform is clean or if you need to throw it in the washer. It’s better to find that out the night before than in the morning when you’re trying to get ready.

Get Small Tasks Done Before Bed

There are a lot of small tasks that you probably do in the morning that you could do before you go to bed. Do you make coffee every morning? Try getting your coffee maker prepped with water, a new filter and ground coffee before bed so that all you have to do in the morning is turn it on. Do you pack a gym bag and/or lunches for the kids? Get everything ready so that all you have to do is grab and go.

Skip Technology

If you are the type to get engrossed in the morning news or checking Facebook, avoid technology in the morning. It may be hard to pull yourself away and make it out the door on time. Get your news fix by listening to it on the car radio or your phone on your way to work and do a quick Facebook check on your break.

What other ways can you save time and be more productive in the morning? Take a few minutes to think about your morning routine and how you can make small adjustments. Getting into the habit of doing as much preparation for the next day the night before as possible and avoiding distractions in the morning, you’ll get your day started right. And you will feel the positive effects all day long.

Denene Brox is a Kansas City-based freelance writer. 

Image Credit: Stuart Miles / freedigitalimages.net

Five Things You Should Know About Your Mental Health

Five Things You Should Know About Your Mental Health

Regardless of the area of clinical expertise or practice setting, there are situations where every nurse can experience stress, and if he or she possesses effective coping skills they are able to overcome the distress before it escalates and causes significant impairment or dysfunction.

While great attention is given to maintaining one’s physical well-being in the health care profession, the importance of the maintaining one’s mental health can be under-recognized or neglected until it is too late. Similar to getting periodic physical health check-ups, the same should apply to one’s mental health.

In the health care profession, nurses can be faced with a myriad of patient cases or crises that can test both their physical and mental endurance and/or stability. It is important for every nurse to be cognizant of the status of his or her mental health, and an evaluation should be performed on an ongoing basis to ensure that one is in good health.

For any nurse engaged in clinical practice, there are five key things that he or she should be aware of as it pertains to their well-being:

1. It is important to periodically assess the status of one’s health.

For example, if one recognizes that they have been experiencing depressive or anxious symptoms for an extended period of time this should serve as an indicator that an issue may exist. Upon identification it is important for a nurse to immediately seek out the aid of a mental health profession to address the issue.

2. Recognize the importance of taking breaks during work to refresh from a particularly taxing or complex patient case.

During the course of any work day, it is important to take breaks to remove oneself from their stressful or high paced work environment to clear their mind.

3. Familiarize yourself with the key warning signs that may signal a mental health crisis.

These may include changes in behavior or thinking, lack of interest in activities that were once found to be pleasurable, or changes in sleeping pattern. These can serve as some of the signs that one’s mental health has been compromised and aid is needed.

4. Keep yourself up to date with the latest developments within the field of mental health.

This is particularly important since it not only affects you but the patients you care for as well. By staying up to date on latest developments within the field of mental health, a nurse is able to immediately identify situations that may have the potential to negatively impact their mental health or their patient’s.

5. Realize that some stress in life is inevitable.

Although the goal is to experience good mental health both on a personal and professional level, there may be a time when there can be a disturbance in one’s mental health, but knowledge, education, and insight can help to address this immediately before it causes impairment.

National Minority Health Month Ending, But Commitment Continues

National Minority Health Month Ending, But Commitment Continues

As we approach the end of April, let’s not forget National Minority Health Month, and its theme – “Prevention is Power: Taking Action for Health Equity.” As a nurse, you can continue in the coming months to champion the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) goal: “a nation free of disparities in health and health care.”

One of the bright sides in the effort to close the disparities gap is the institution of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Now millions of Americans who belong to minority groups have access to health coverage they can afford. The impact of the ACA in communities nationwide is just starting to be felt as preventive services have been expanded on a no-cost share basis (meaning no co-pay, even if you haven’t met your insurance deductible).

Major examples: colon cancer screening, Pap smears and mammograms, well-child visits, and flu shots.

What’s astounding is how comprehensive the preventive care coverage is now. For example, all Marketplace health plans must now cover a long list of women’s services, on a no-cost share basis (when delivered by an in-network provider), including these items.

*Breast Cancer Genetic Test Counseling (BRCA) for women at higher risk
*Chlamydia Infection Screening for women at higher risk
*Contraception, FDA-approved methods, sterilization, and patient education (with certain exceptions)
*Folic Acid (for women who may become pregnant)
*HIV screening (for sexually active women)
*Osteoporosis Screening (over 60 or higher risk)
*Tobacco Use Screening and Interventions

Be aware of what new or old preventive services may be necessary for protecting your health. (Are you getting a flu shot every year well before the start of flu season?) That’s probably the best place to start. But then think about what diseases are close to your heart and educate yourself about how you can educate your patients on how to prevent them.

Maybe your focus is on birth defects, which unfortunately strike 1 in 33 babies born each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some abnormalities at birth are minor but others are serious, which is why birth defects are the leading cause of death before age one.

A simple way to fight one type of birth defect is with the folic acid (now under ACA prevention coverage). National Folic Acid Awareness Week at the beginning of January highlights the need for this B vitamin. It helps prevent defects in a baby’s brain and spine when taken by mothers before and during pregnancy. Many resources are available to you as a healthcare professional, if you’d like to join this highly effective campaign.

What are you going to do to commemorate this National Minority Health Month? We’d love to hear about your interests and experiences with reducing health disparities.

 Jebra Turner is a health writer in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at www.jebra.com.

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