Abstract

AMARO CANO, María del Carmen. Florence Nightingale, the first great nursing theorist. Rev Cubana Enfermer [online]. 2004, vol.20, n.3. ISSN 0864-0319.

The importance of theory in the professional nursing practice has motivated the discussion of this topic. The first nursing theorist, Florence Nightingale, was able to apply her history and philosophy knowledge to the study of reality, in particular to that part of reality that became the focus of her life: people's health care.This paper is aimed at analyzing the logic of the thinking of the founder of professional nursing and the philosophical bases, both the epistemological and the ethical bases of her theory, starting from the analysis of the own historical and sociocultural context in which this historical figure developed. To make this analysis, her main work and epistolary, as well as secondary sources of the latest theorists, who have developed their own theories and models based on the logic of Nightingale's thinking, were studied Even when it can be stated that Nightingale's thinking is poor to the light of the current technical and scientific development, it is not possible to forget that this theory has served as a starting point to develop each of the present nursing theories and that, above all, it deserves a deep recognition for being the pioneer of the scientific and ethical nursing thinking.

Keywords : Philosophy; theory; nursing.