National Florence Nightingale Awards 2021

The National Florence Nightingale Awards –

These awards were instituted in the year 1973 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by the nurses and nursing professionals to the society.

Who is Florence Nightingale?

• Florence Nightingale, byname Lady with the Lamp, British nurse, statistician, and social reformer who was the foundational philosopher of modern nursing. 
• She was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820, and was named after her birthplace, where her parents.
• However, she grew up and spent her life in England, living in Derbyshire, Hampshire, and London.
• Nightingale was put in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War. 
• She spent many hours in the wards, and her night rounds giving personal care to the wounded established her image as the “Lady with the Lamp.” 
• Her efforts to formalize nursing education led her to establish the first scientifically based nursing school—the Nightingale School of Nursing, at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. 
• She also was instrumental in setting up training for midwives and nurses in workhouse infirmaries. 
• In 1859 she published her book Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not, a step-by-step guide explaining her methods for attending to the sick. 
• She was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit (1907).
• International Nurses Day, observed annually on May 12, commemorates her birth and celebrates the important role of nurses in health care.
• WHO designated the year 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and midwife”, in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.