Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery explained

Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care King's College London
Parent:	King's College London
Established:	9 July 1860
Head Label:	Head of School
Head:	Ian Norman
Former Names:	– The Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses – Nightingale School of Nursing – Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery
Location:	James Clerk Maxwell Building 57 Waterloo Road London, England SE1 8WA^[1]

The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care is an academic faculty within King's College London. The faculty is the world's first nursing school to be continuously connected to a fully serving hospital and medical school (St. Thomas' Hospital).^[2] Established on 9 July 1860 by Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, it was a model for many similar training schools through the UK, Commonwealth and other countries for the latter half of the 19th century.^[3] It is primarily concerned with the education of people to become nurses and midwives. It also carries out nursing research, continuing professional development and postgraduate programmes. The Faculty forms part of the Waterloo campus on the South Bank of the River Thames and is now one of the largest faculties in the university.

The school is ranked as the number one faculty for nursing in London^[4] and in the United Kingdom^[5] whilst third in the world rankings^[6] and belongs to one of the leading universities in health services, policy and research in the world.^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} A freedom-of-information request in 2015 disclosed that the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery had one of the lowest admission offer rates of 14% to its applicants.^[11]

The faculty specialises in the following areas: child and adolescent nursing; midwifery and women's health; adult nursing; mental health nursing; and postgraduate research, with programmes catering to the needs of a wider range of individuals and healthcare professionals continuing their professional development.

History

Inspired by Florence Nightingale and her nurses' work during the Crimean War, a fund was set up in 1855 by members of the public to raise money for her work.^[12] By June 1856, £44,039 (equivalent to over £4.26 million in 2016) was raised. Nightingale decided to use the money to set up a training school at St Thomas' Hospital. The first nurses began their training on 9 July 1860. Graduates of the school used to be called 'Nightingales'.

When Nightingale's school for nurses was initially set up, under the direction of Mrs Wardroper, the hospital matron,^[13] the students had a typical training period lasting a year. Students normally lived in-house; whilst having their own private rooms, a common room for lounge or socials was provided in the hospital's special area. The students attended their classes/patients at St. Thomas' Hospital. Around twenty to thirty students were accepted in a year, whose probationary period fall under two classifications. A common class woman who serves as student, upon completion, would receive a certain small amount of money plus a placement in a home or institution. An upper-class woman or 'Lady', on the other hand, would have completed some education and would be given the opportunity to assist in the school. Uniforms were provided at any case, and they would be under the charge of a matron (and an assistant). Upon graduation, they would be given a chance to visit Florence Nightingale in her South Street apartment, a momentous occasion for few people to meet her in person, especially since Nightingale's profile has been made well-known nationwide after the Crimean War. Nightingale kept extensive notes on all the students in the school, including their 'character'. She placed particular importance upon character; should there be any issue about 'character', the 'certification' of a nurse would be opposed.

Between 1860 and 1903 the school certified 1,907 nurses as having had one year's training. Many of the trainees went on to be matrons or superintendents of nursing.^[14]

Over the years, the training and the school itself went through a series of changes, mergers and expansions. The curriculum for nurses has changed enormously since. Further, in 1991, the school merged with Olive Haydon School of Midwifery and the Thomas Guy & Lewisham School of Nursing, creating the Nightingale and Guy's College of Nursing & Midwifery. The following year the name changed to the Nightingale College of Health. In 1993, it merged with King's College Hospital School of Nursing at Normanby College and formed the Nightingale Institute.^[15] In 1996, the institute was fully integrated into King's College London and was combined with the university's Department of Nursing Studies two years later to form the Florence Nightingale Division of Nursing & Midwifery.^[15] In 1999 it was renamed the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.^[15] In September 2014 the school changed its name to the "Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery". In 2017 the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's moved from the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine to join with the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery. The Faculty was renamed the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care.^[16] As of 2021, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care is a faculty of 300 staff and 4,000 students.^[17]

Notable alumni, academics and staff

See also: List of King's College London alumni.

• Sir Jonathan Asbridge, first president of the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council and director of Nursing NHS London
• Kate Waller Barrett, prominent Virginia physician, humanitarian, philanthropist, sociologist and social reformer, led the National Florence Crittenton Mission, which she founded in 1895.
• Alice Fisher, a nursing pioneer in the US at the Philadelphia General Hospital
• June Jolly, children's nurse and social worker who pioneered care in children's hospitals
• Agnes Jones, became the first trained nursing superintendent of Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary
• Florence Sarah Lees, one of the pioneers of district nursing
• Baronness Sophie Mannerheim, initially trained as a probationer, eventually becoming a matron and step up a Helsinki training school and later becoming president of the International Council of Nurses
• Ian Norman, Professor and Dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at King's College London and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and American Academy of Nursing
• Lucy Osburn, regarded as the founder of modern nursing in Australia
• Ella Pirrie, first head nurse of the Belfast City Hospital^[18]
• Chief Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Hon. FRCN, first black nurse in the NHS and subsequently chief nursing officer of Nigeria.^{[19] [20]}
• Anne Marie Rafferty, Professor and former Dean of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King's College London and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing
• Emmy Rappe, a Swedish nurse who founded the Swedish Nursing Association
• Linda Richards, first professionally trained American nurse and established nursing training programs in US and Japan
• Dame Cecily Saunders, nurse, physician and social worker who established the first modern hospice having instituted St Christopher's Hospice - which kick-started the hospice movement. Saunders was a pioneer of palliative care
• Isla Stewart, a nurse who became the matron of St Bartholomew's Hospital and founded the Royal British Nurses Association^[21]
• Dame Alicia Lloyd Still,DBE, RRC matron and superintendent of St. Thomas's Hospital 1913-1937, founding member of the College of Nursing (later the Royal College of Nursing), one of the leaders of the campaign for state registration of nurses in the UK, appointed then elected to the General Nursing Council (1920-1937),^[22] helped found the Florence Nightingale Museum.
• Henny Tscherning, a Danish nurse who was president of the Danish Nurses' Organization
• Theodora Turner, matron and nurse superintendent of St Thomas' Hospital (especially during its reconstruction period after the German bombing) as well as former president of Royal College of Nursing
• Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper, a matron of St Thomas' Hospital at the time Nightingale instituted the school, she became the school's first superintendent

External links

• Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery (at King's) website
• King's College London Alumni website
• The Nightingale Fellowship

Notes and References

1. Web site: Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care Address.
2. 5195090 . 17 . 8 . [The first nursing school in the world—St. Thomas Hospital School in London] . 1969 . Munca Sanit . 449–54 . Petroni . A.
3. Book: John. Daly. Sandra. Speedy. Debra. Jackson. Contexts of Nursing. 41. Elsevier Australia (Churchill Livingstone). 2009. 3. 9780729539258.
4. Web site: University Subject Tables 2016: Nursing – London. The Complete University Guide. The Complete University Guide. 2 October 2015. 2 October 2015.
5. Web site: QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 – Nursing. QS. QS. 30 April 2016. 30 April 2016.
6. Web site: Nursing. QS. QS. 30 April 2017. 14 May 2017.
7. Web site: Key Facts. 17 October 2015. King's Health Partners. 31 October 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101031092319/http://kingshealthpartners.org/khp/key-facts/viewing/10008. dead.
8. Web site: World Reputation Rankings 2015 results. 26 September 2015. Times Higher Education. 4 June 2015.
9. News: University Research Excellence Framework 2014 – the full rankings. The Guardian. 7 October 2015.
10. Web site: 2014–2015 World Ranking (1–250). 7 October 2015. Middle East Technical University. 14 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181214075818/http://www.urapcenter.org/2014/world.php?q=MS0yNTA=. dead.
11. Web site: Breakdown of undergraduate admissions statistics - a Freedom of Information request to King's College London. 11 July 2015.
12. Web site: King's College London - History. www.kcl.ac.uk.
13. Book: Abel-Smith. Brian. A History of the Nursing Profession. 1960. Heinemann. London. 6.
14. Book: Abel-Smith. Brian. A History of the Nursing Profession. 1960. Heinemann. London. 24.
15. Web site: Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery: About the School: History . King's College London . 2 May 2016.
16. Web site: King's College London - History. www.kcl.ac.uk.
17. Web site: About us Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care King's College London. 2021-05-04. www.kcl.ac.uk.
18. A history of the Belfast City Hospital . Craig . David H . 1973 . The Ulster Medical Journal . 43 . 1 . 1–14 . 4595366 . 2385391 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200513135545/https://www.ums.ac.uk/inst/hbch_dc.pdf . 13 May 2020 . 13 May 2020.
19. Kofoworola Abeni Pratt; third vice-president, International Council of Nurses . Bell . L. M. . October 1967 . Int Nurs Rev. . 14 . 5 . 7–10 . 4864502.
20. Listener Week . Woman's Hour . Woman's Hour . Woman's Hour . 11 July 2016 . . 11 July 2016 .
21. Web site: Isla Stewart: The Incarnation of Common Sense . 4 November 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920192618/https://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/file/0004/298399/Isla_Stewart_ch3_BoN.rtf . 20 September 2016 . dead.
22. Book: Baly, Monica E . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.) . 2004 . Oxford University Press. . 978-0-19-861412-8 . Subscription or UK public library membership required . Still, Dame Alicia Frances Jane Lloyd- (1869–1944), nurse . 10.1093/ref:odnb/56823.