Nightingale in China
2022-06-24
Florence Nightingale was an outstanding nurse in Italy in the 19th century. In 1912, the International Red Cross established the Nightingale Prize in the name of Florence Nightingale. It is held every two years to reward nurses around the world for their outstanding contributions. Li Xiufang was deeply moved by Nightingale’s deeds and decided to learn from her after playing the role of Nightingale.
After the all-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out in 1937, she learned that there was a severe shortage of nursing staff and teaching professionals in the northwest of China. In the summer vacation of 1941, Li Xiufang and two young female teachers, who stayed in school for teaching, set foot on the journey to the west despite the opposition of their families and without telling the school. Since then, she had never been married but devoted her whole life to Lanzhou City and all her love to nursing without reservation.
In 1954, nurses of the General Hospital of Northwest Military Area Command (the predecessor of the General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Area Command) always failed to sort out the priorities and even made mistakes in treatments, which caused more pain to the wounded and the sick. Li Xiufang was determined to change the situation.
Li Xiufang won the 36th Nightingale Prize in 1997 and the Medical Achievement Award in 2001, both of which were launched by the International Red Cross. She is the first “Nightingale Prize” winner as a Chinese soldier and also “Nightingale” in people’s heart.
After the all-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out in 1937, she learned that there was a severe shortage of nursing staff and teaching professionals in the northwest of China. In the summer vacation of 1941, Li Xiufang and two young female teachers, who stayed in school for teaching, set foot on the journey to the west despite the opposition of their families and without telling the school. Since then, she had never been married but devoted her whole life to Lanzhou City and all her love to nursing without reservation.
In 1943, Li Xiufang founded the first public senior nursing school in the northwest of China. The school was basically started from scratch under harsh conditions. She turned a row of abandoned bungalows into schoolhouses, mobilized and hired teachers to tackle faculty shortage and compiled the textbooks by herself like Basic Nursing and Nutrition. All the school bedding and pillows were sewn by their hands.
In 1954, nurses of the General Hospital of Northwest Military Area Command (the predecessor of the General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Area Command) always failed to sort out the priorities and even made mistakes in treatments, which caused more pain to the wounded and the sick. Li Xiufang was determined to change the situation.
After thorough investigation and researches, Li Xiufang first put forward the theory of “Tertiary Care” which classifies the patients into the severe patients, critical patients and patients with mild symptoms, and “Three Inspections and Seven Verifications”, namely inspection before and after medication, injections and treatment including the verification of bed number, name, drug, dose, concentration, time and usage, etc., leading the nursing of Chinese hospital to an orderly management, ensuring the improvement in nursing quality and laying the foundation for modern scientific nursing in China. These two nursing systems were quickly promoted in the military hospitals throughout the country and have been in use today.
Li Xiufang won the 36th Nightingale Prize in 1997 and the Medical Achievement Award in 2001, both of which were launched by the International Red Cross. She is the first “Nightingale Prize” winner as a Chinese soldier and also “Nightingale” in people’s heart.
