Abstract

Aim: The Aim of this study was to compile an index of "Notes on Nursing", the first edition (1859), and also to create a thesaurus of its principal concepts, sub concepts, and a relationship between the two. As a result, the study offered a unique and penetrating analysis of Nightingale’s thoughts on nursing.
Methods: The method of research used in this study was a bibliographical design that mainly aims towards clarifying the structural peculiarities of the document. By using a bibliographical method I have analyzed the concepts about nursing in "Notes on Nursing" and thus I could examine Nightingale's ideology of nursing and its structure.
Results: In both the index and thesaurus compiled during this study, the words which most frequently appeared are “patient” and “the sick”. This signifies Nightingale’s point of view that nursing’s main concern was the sick; (although the most commonly used term is “nursing human being”). Another frequently used word is “I”. Nightingale was the first person who wrote about her own experiences in the present perfect tense. She saw the essence of nursing as an art, rather than science. It has been generally accepted that the environment was the central concept throughout “Notes on Nursing”. Instead of using the word “environment”, she described and explained the importance of the patients’ surroundings and how things surrounding the patients affected their condition. However, the environment was not her primary concern. Her primary concern was the patients themselves, and she described what nurses should do in order to create the best environment for the patient.
Conclusion: The analysis of the contents and structure of “Notes on Nursing” has yielded several new facts about nursing. The present study will serve to provide an academic basis when interpreting Nightingale’s philosophy of nursing in the context of contemporary nursing.