Florence Nightingale

When developing the Florence – Thermodisinfector Washer, Cristófoli found inspiration in one of the most influent nurses of the last century and has changed the way the British State used to take care of the war wounded soldiers and poor people in the hospitals. Florence Nightingale’s capacity, compassion and dedication to people, established the guidelines and paths for modern nursing.

Florence Nightingale, British nurse received her name from the city where she was born, in May, 1820. She got famous for being a pioneer in treating the wounded during the Crimean War. She also contributed in the field of Statistics, with systems for graphical representation as the sector graphic commonly known as “pie chart”.

Still young, she stood up against the conventional role of women with her social status and decided to dedicate herself to nursing. She cared about the poor medical treatment given to people in poverty. In December 1844, in response to the death of a beggar in a London infirmary;.

In December 1844, in response to a pauper's death in a workhouse infirmary in London she became the leading advocate for improved medical care in the infirmaries. She had an active role in the reform of the Poor Laws, extending the State role far beyond the provision of medical care. Another great contribution was during the Crimean War since 1854 helping the wounded on the Scurati Fields (Turkey).

During the war, she evidenced the lack of hygiene and the diseases that killed a great number of hospitalized wounded soldiers. So she developed an assistance project to help the sick people and organization of the hospitals’ infrastructure that made her known through the entire battle front, promoting assistance to sick and wounded people in campaign hospitals. Her reforms reduced the mortality rate in her military hospital from 42,7% to 2,2%. She was famous when she returned from war, soon after that, she started working with a considerable success for the reform of the military health system. She returned to England as a heroine in August 1857 and, according to BBC, she probably was the most famous person of the Victorian Age besides the Queen Victoria herself.

Statistics for her was essential for understanding the social problems, so she tried to introduce the study of this area of mathematics to justify her conclusions. Due to her efforts in using the data available, she became a pioneer in using graphics in order to offer clear presentations so everybody could understand, including the generals and members of the parliament. Her creative graphics represented a landmark in the growth of the new statistics science.

Having caught typhus in 1856 and having serious physical restrictions, she dedicated herself to the creation of the first nursing school of the world (1859-1860) at the Saint Thomas hospital, a 1-year course, taught by doctors with theoretical and practical classes, she received an award from the English government for that.

In 1883, Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. Florence Nightingale died on her sleep on August 13th, 1910.