Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not

The Notes on Nursing is the revolutionary book by one of the founders of "modern medicine." Although Florence Nightingale was ridiculed for her views and approach by many contemporaries, including prominent doctors of her times, she stood her ground. She saved many lives from unnecessary death of hospital infection. Florence Nightingale first started demanding that all the surgical instruments were boiled and the rooms ventilated. She collected and summed up her views in a 74-page brochure of notes on nursing, in which she described the role of clean water, air, food, and beds, as well as the cleanliness of hospital personnel for patient recovery.