Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)

The book opens with

Almost every woman at some time has charge of someone's health, so every woman is a nurse

Their wordsEvery woman, or at least almost every woman, in England has, at one time or another of her life, charge of the personal health of somebody, whether child or invalid,—in other words, every woman is a nurse.

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Florence Nightingale did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Almost every woman at some time has charge of someone's health, so every woman is a nurse

Their wordsEvery woman, or at least almost every woman, in England has, at one time or another of her life, charge of the personal health of somebody, whether child or invalid,—in other words, every woman is a nurse.
Our reading
When a patient is cold, feverish, faint, sick after food or has a bedsore, it is generally the fault of the nursing, not the disease

Their wordsIf a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault not of the disease, but of the nursing.
Our reading
Nursing should mean the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet and diet, not just giving medicines

Their wordsI use the word nursing for want of a better. It has been limited to signify little more than the administration of medicines and the application of poultices. It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet—all at the least expense of vital power to the patient.
Our reading
The first rule of nursing is to keep the air a patient breathes as pure as the outside air without chilling him

Their wordsThe very first canon of nursing, the first and the last thing upon which a nurse's attention must be fixed, the first essential to a patient, without which all the rest you can do for him is as nothing, with which I had almost said you may leave all the rest alone, is this: TO KEEP THE AIR HE BREATHES AS PURE AS THE EXTERNAL AIR, WITHOUT CHILLING HIM.
Our reading
Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting and fear of surprise harm a patient more than any exertion

Their wordsApprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.
Our reading
Unnecessary noise is the cruellest absence of care that can be inflicted on the sick or the well

Their wordsUnnecessary noise, then, is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or well.
Our reading
The most important practical lesson for nurses is what to observe and how to observe it in the sick

Their wordsThe most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe—how to observe—what symptoms indicate improvement—what the reverse—which are of importance—which are of none—which are the evidence of neglect—and of what kind of neglect.
Our reading
A woman should bring the best she has to the world's work, heeding neither of the two current cries about what women should do

Their wordsSurely woman should bring the best she has, whatever that is, to the work of God's world, without attending to either of these cries.

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