The International Council of Nurses designates May 12 of each year as International Nurses Day to promote the unity of professional nurses worldwide in organizing activities to commemorate the virtues of Miss Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession. They campaign together to prevent and solve problems affecting the health and well-being of the general public. In 2019, the International Council of Nurses set the theme for International Nurses Day as “Nurses – A Voice to Lead Health For All,” which translates to Thai as “Nurses: A Voice of Power Towards Universal Health.” Today, RSATHAI invites you to look at the celebrated deeds of Miss Florence Nightingale along with the Nightingale Lamp, a symbol of the nursing profession’s pledge that was born alongside the story of Miss Florence Nightingale.
The ‘Nightingale Lamp’ is a sacred symbol and ceremony for nursing students and professionals. It is a symbol that junior nursing students receive to carry on the intention of being good nurses in the future and to be aware of the responsibility, patience, and compassion towards patients when entering the nursing profession. This lamp is passed down from generation to generation, with the lamp being given to first-year nursing students during the cap-giving ceremony. During the lamp handover, the recipient recites the pledge to be a good nurse of Florence Nightingale.
The heroic deeds of Miss Florence Nightingale, who dedicated herself to caring for soldiers and the wounded from the Crimean War, are celebrated and passed down. The Selimiye Barracks in Scutari, where she and a group of 38 volunteer nurses went to help, was overcrowded with the injured but lacked doctors, equipment, and medicine.
Amidst the dim hope of survival, patients felt hopeful every time they saw the light from the lamp that Miss Florence Nightingale often lit to walk and check on patients at night. This image led to her being later named the Lady of the Lamp.
When the war ended in 1857, Florence Nightingale returned to the United Kingdom as a heroine. She was granted an audience and received an honor from Queen Victoria and continued the work she dedicated her life to until she passed away on August 12, 1910.
Her funeral was held simply according to her final wishes. Florence Nightingale not only saved the lives of soldiers in Scutari but also millions more afterward as the founder of modern nursing.
“When I am no longer alive, only my name remains, I hope that the great work I have done will last forever. May God bless the brave soldiers of Balaclava and keep them safe.”
Thanks to images and information from
- www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/florence_nightingale/
- med.mahidol.ac.th/ram/th/content/%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B0%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5
- www.sru.ac.th/news-and-announcement/news-events/344-ceremony-give-needle-cap-plenty-miss-florence-nightingale-nursing.html
- thegoodheart.blogspot.com/2010/08/blessed-florence-nightingale-1820-1910.html
- historythings.com/historys-badasses-florence-nightingale/
- https://thestandard.co/kaokonlakao-historys-badasses-florence-nightingale/
- http://www.thainurse.org