Abstract

It is with some trepidation that I confronted the topic of Florence Nightingale and her nursing legacy. Some trepidation, because as I completed more preparative reading, I realised that in reality, it could be argued that Florence Nightingale left us with very little in the terms of a nursing legacy, and I say the term nursing as if it should be in italics; I'll explain that more later on. I realise that to say such a thing may be bordering on some form of blasphemy, but there you are, I've said it now, I'm going to have to defend myself, probably poorly. Over the next few minutes, I'm going to try to make things interesting and might introduce you to some lesser known Nightingale facts, but I realise that many if not all of you, may know them already. At the same time, I will try to explore a number of aspects and issues that have made me come to the conclusion that in nursing at least, there is little more to the Nightingale legacy than a celebration of her past life and achievements and some controversies and morbid curiosities, many of which may have relevance to and may inform nursing, but in reality, could have little to do with nursing at all.