Kristina Kljajic
BBC journalist
Behind the black and white photograph of a woman with a slightly tired look lies the story of a pioneer of modern medical care.
She lived in 19th-century Victorian England, reformed the healthcare system, and earned the nickname "the lady with the lamp" because she constantly visited patients at night.
"Florence Nightingale is considered the mother of modern nursing."
"She was systematic, organized and a great data manager," says Sanja Smiljković of the Balkan Nurses Association.
International Nurses Day has been traditionally celebrated on May 12, the day of her birth, since 1974.
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Brave and determined
Florence was born in 1820 in Florence in central Italy, the city after which she was named.
Although her family belonged to the upper class, Florence decided to become a nurse - a profession that was in high demand at the time. it was not considered prestigious.
At that time, there was no medicine to stop deadly infections and few people understood how important it was to keep medical equipment and hospital beds clean, and this is precisely where Flores Nightingale's greatest contribution lay. given to humanity.
In 1854, she was commissioned by the British government to improve conditions for soldiers wounded during the Crimean War.
The conflict, which lasted from 1853 to 1856, involved Russia on one side and a military alliance consisting of England, France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Italian Kingdom of Piedmont on the other.
When Florence arrived at the hospital in Scutari, present-day Istanbul, she was greeted by chaos.
Departments were dirty, there was not enough food and there were very few staff to care for the wounded.
"That's when she showed ability, courage and determination," says a senior nurse with decades of experience as an anesthesiologist.
At that time, infections and diseases were ravaging hospitals, the BBC wrote in the article. Surgeons who were the first to clean up dirty hospitals.
Patients were falling ill en masse from a condition known as "hospitalism" - today we might call it sepsis or blood poisoning - and medical staff assumed it was caused by cause bad smells, or miasmas, that spread through the air.
"Florence realized that most soldiers were dying from infection."
"That's why she improved the delivery of food and blankets, insisted on hygiene, and visited patients throughout the night," adds Smiljković.
Thanks to her, mortality has dropped from 42 percent to two percent.
'They constantly ask me for help and I always agree wholeheartedly'
U letters to a friend, published by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Nightingale often wrote about her busy schedule and the many patients who arrived daily.
"They keep asking me for help with the military hospital. And I always agree wholeheartedly."
"They know that I am available to them now and forever," she shared her impressions.
Not only did Nightingale set about organizing supplies and improving conditions, but she collected, collated and sent statistics back to Britain to demonstrate the value of what her team was doing.
"Florence Nightingale was first and foremost a brilliant communicator," she said Anne Marie Rafferty, president of the Royal College of Nursing, previously told the BBC.
"She was able to show that soldiers died more often from basic neglect and lack of proper care than from war actions on the battlefield."
"The needless loss of life really touched her soul," Rafferty explained.
Although she followed surgeons and physicians who were improving hygiene in hospitals, Nightingale was ahead of them all, applying the principles of the Victorian hygiene movement.
That movement brought potable water and sewage to British cities - to improve cleanliness.
Moreover, the biggest transformation in her hospital's death rate occurred after the leaky sewer pipe was repaired.
She followed the numbers and had a pioneering interest in statistics, and she said that the data seemed to her "more lifelike than novels".
Before her arrival, the number of deaths was not recorded in military hospitals.
To gain insight into the progress of her method, she recorded data and showed how important it is to rely on facts, not just assumptions and predictions.
"This visualization of data to convey it to public services and politicians was very important."
"They saw her contribution, and that's why she was elected the first female member of the British Statistical Society," says Smiljković.
A woman ahead of time
And after the war ended, Nightingale continued her own mission.
During 1860, she founded the School of Nursing at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, thereby laying the foundations for the professionalization of nursing.
Her book Notes on Nursing it became a manual for generations of medical personnel.
She was advocate public health, sanitation, preventive medicine and women's education.
During her life she had about 60 cats.
Its influence was also felt in the Balkans.
Almost half a century later, is founded and the Medical School at Zvezdara in Belgrade - the first institution of its kind in the Balkans.
It was founded in 1921 to train medical personnel who would replace nurses from abroad after they left the country.
The school's first principal was the Englishwoman Edith Newt, a student of Florence Nightingale.
What are the problems of medical staff today?
Even after a century and a half, the work of nurses is not easy.
"We work in poor conditions and there are fewer and fewer of us," says Smiljković.
"Many medical workers have gone abroad, started working in private clinics, some have changed professions or retired, and the need for trained staff is not recognized," he adds.
According to data from the Institute of Public Health "Dr Milan Jovanović Batut", Serbia lacks more than 4.000 nurses.
However, she wouldn't change the vocation she chose.
"There is no better feeling than knowing that you have helped someone," says Sanja Smiljković, with a smile.
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