Process Paper
Process Paper | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
The Lady With the Lamp:
The Legacy of Florence Nightingale and the Evolution of Nursing
Gopi Lukhi
Word Count: 476
Individual Website
Senior Division
Because of my interest in the medical field, I wanted a topic that had something to do with it. I had done a medical topic my previous year in National History Day, and I had had a great experience with it. I looked for various medical topics that would fit the theme of leadership and legacy. After considering Jonas Salk and Clara Barton, I found a woman that stood out. Florence Nightingale was a lot of things beyond a nurse. She was a statistician, a social reformer, and a nurse. She is a very notable figure in medical history. I felt that she would make a great topic.
For my research, I looked for primary sources first. I knew that those would be the hardest to find. Luckily, I found plenty at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. There, I got several volumes of a collection of letters that Florence Nightingale had written and was written to. These books contained a lot of useful information. For further research, I went to the library of Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. There I found secondary biographical books that would be useful in explaining everything Nightingale did in her life. The other portion of my research was done online where I found many documents, books, and reliable websites. To make my website aesthetically pleasing, I included pictures and videos that I received from websites online.
I chose to do a website because I wanted to use technology in some way. I have done a documentary for NHD before. It was neat to create my project on a computer, but a documentary took too much time. I wanted to take it a step down, so I decided to do a website. To put together my website, I made different pages based on appropriate organization for this year’s theme. I included media for creativity and quotes for evidence. A trouble I faced when creating my project was going over the word limit. I had to take out about 200 words to meet the requirement.
My project relates to this year’s theme, leadership and legacy, because Florence Nightingale was a well-known leader that had a huge legacy. Her work in the Crimean War and improvement of the condition of the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary was something only a true leader could accomplish. Nightingale created a school for training nurses, fulfilling her goal of making nursing a respectable occupation and creating job opportunities for women. She laid down the basis for the Red Cross and the National Health Service. She worked to give her patients a better environment in order for them to heal. A law for the care of the inmates of the workhouse infirmaries was created because of her perseverance. Florence Nightingale’s life’s work has gone really far in this world. Nursing would not be where it is today without her help.