Notes on Hospitals

Florence Nightingale's 1859 collection of pieces on hospital design and sanitary conditions greatly contributed to the improvement of medical care.

Returning from the Crimea, Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was appalled by the conditions she found in many English civilian hospitals. Her belief that high mortality rates were preventable was seen as revolutionary. This 1859 collection of pieces on hospital design and sanitary conditions greatly contributed to improved medical care.Returning from the Crimea, Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) used her experience of army medicine to ameliorate civilian nursing care. She was appalled by the conditions she found, affirming that the first requirement of a hospital was that 'it should do the sick no harm'. Problems such as overcrowding and damp, in addition to lack of ventilation and proper sanitation, contributed to high mortality rates. Nightingale's belief that such suffering was preventable was seen as revolutionary. In 1859 she published her two most influential works, Notes on Nursing (also reissued in this series) and Notes on Hospitals. This collection contains the two papers she presented to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science in 1858. Also included, from 1857, is her evidence to the royal commission on the British army's sanitary conditions. Three illustrated articles on hospital design, published in The Builder in 1858, form an appendix to the work.