Nursing Standard podcast: why the legacy of Florence Nightingale will never die

Nightingale biographer Mark Bostridge assesses the debt that today’s nursing care owes its pioneer

Hand hygiene, history and nursing today are covered in latest episode of the Nursing Standard podcast on the legacy of Florence Nightingale.

Award-winning author and biographer Mark Bostridge, who has written an acclaimed book on Miss Nightingale, joins RCNi senior nurse editor Richard Hatchett to discuss the lady with the lamp.

Bicentenary year

The episode, which comes in the bicentenary this year of Miss Nightingale’s birth, reflects on her influence as a public health reformer, her time at Scutari hospital during the Crimean War and why she took to her bed in the latter years of her life.

Mr Bostridge discusses the nursing pioneer’s legacies, among them an emphasis on hand hygiene and the idea of healthcare as a human right by introducing trained nursing care in workhouses.

• RELATED: Why Florence Nightingale is still so important for nurses
• RELATED: Is Florence Nightingale a nursing icon?