Florence Nightingale was a nurse who rose to prominence during the Crimean War and is remembered today for her efforts to reform the profession of nursing as well as the conditions in which medical care is delivered. She is responsible for huge improvements made to the sanitary conditions in military field hospitals specifically, but also for hospitals in general, which had previously been a seedbed for germs, disease and infection. Today, the Florence Nightingale Medal, named after her, is the highest possible distinction that a nurse can earn. It is rewarded for “exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled or to civilian victims of a conflict or disaster”, or “exemplary services or a creative and pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education.”
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