Florence Nightingale and the History of Caregiving, Skin Care, and Pressure Injury Prevention

“If he has a bedsore, it's generally not the fault of the disease, but of the nursing”
- Florence Nightingale, 1859

Although pressure injuries have been happening to people since the beginning of human history, blame it on Florence Nightingale that nurse/caregivers became “responsible” for pressure injuries.

Ever since then, the organ of skin (the largest organ of the human body) has become the only organ whose decisions regarding care and protection are left to the bedside caregiver, usually nurses, but rarely the doctor. The definition of the term “bedside caregiver” became synonymous with any person that provided care for a person’s basic physical needs: Mobility, nutrition & hydration, hygiene, and of course skin care and pressure injury care. In this way, “Nursing” and “Bedside caregiving” mean the same thing.

That being said, medical care has evolved a lot since Florence’s day. We have gotten much better at caring for people. Very sick people stay alive longer. But the tradeoff is healthcare has become much more complicated and fractionated.

Where it used to be that the same doctor took care of everything from broken limbs to cancer, now virtually all fields of medicine require MD specialization. The practice of basic bedside care and patient handling, especially skin and pressure injury prevention care, is completely disconnected from the MD’s scope of practice.

The scope of practice for nursing has expanded and partitioned into specialties too. Before 1950, nurses were not even “qualified” to use a stethoscope. (True!), Now bedside caregivers (nurses, aides, PT/OT, RT, technicians, etc.) are the primary custodians for a myriad of high-tech advances in medical practice.

But the truth is, to date not much has changed about pressure injury prevention. There is no particular medication or technology that can stop bedsores. The bedside caregiver is still very much in charge of skin care and pressure injury prevention.

Bedside caregivers are still the guardians of skin care and the soldiers in the fight against pressure injury prevention.

Only caregivers can stop bedsores.

• Gwen Jewell, of Jewell Nursing Solutions, is a wound care specialist and has a passion for seeking solutions to reduce pressure, keep patients more comfortable, and assist nurses in the fight against pressure injuries.

To download The Ultimate Guide: How to Stop Bedsores,  click the title or click here.

Jewell Nursing Solutions’ mission is to empower all caregivers to prevent and heal pressure injury wounds. For more information, contact us HERE.