The health risks of second-hand smoke have been well documented. Individuals who are exposed to the effect of second-hand smoke are at risk of a number of adverse health outcomes, including lung cancer and asthma. Second-hand smoke pollutes the environment, one of the most important aspects of Florence Nightingale’s environmental theory. Nightingale strongly believed that a healthy environment and proper air quality and air flow was necessary to the health of the individual. Continued research into this area has indicted that Nightingale’s Environmental Theory was correct in its assumptions.
Nightingale stressed that the quality of the environment was crucial to maintaining the health of the individual. She believed that infections were related to the quality of the air and the water. She advocated for ventilation for patients to ensure that fresh air went through their rooms. This was in opposition to the thought at the time when sick rooms were closed off and became stagnant. She developed this theory during the Crimean War and was quite advanced in her thinking, which is still amazingly relevant today (Lee, Clark, & Thompson, 2013, p. 245).
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The theory’s concepts and propositions involved a paradigm shift with regards to the sanitation of the time. At this time, garbage was piled high in the cities, sewage was not handled properly, hospitals and sick rooms were not well ventilated and clean water was not available to everyone. Nightingale proposed that these aspects be changed. There was a need for sanitation reform in the country and she helped to lead it (Montiero, 1985, p. 186). . As the sanitation reform occurred, not only did the paradigm shift, but there was also an epidemiological transition as well, away from infectious diseases as a result of this. The concepts of her theory centered on several propositions including access to clean water, improved irrigation of draining ditches, particularly for sanitation, improved lighting, improved personal hygiene and cleanliness and the importance of pure air. Nightingale believed that these various environmental factors were critical to the importance of health. Science has now shown that she was correct in these. During her time, kerosene was a means for light, which is still used today. It is a contributor of indoor air pollution. In societies, such as America that does not use kerosene, there is still a problem with lack of sunlight, which leads to disease.
The limitations of the theory are few. At the time that Nightingale developed her theory, the assumptions, however, were many. She was beyond her time. Since then, science has clearly indicated that she was correct in many, if not all, of her assumptions. Furthermore, history has shown that the Sanitation Reform clearly did change the overall face of disease in America as a result of the improved sanitation and environmental decisions.
I believe the most important aspect of the theory is that humans must not continue to pollute their environment. One way that humans knowingly pollute their environment is with second-hand smoke, a significant cause of disease in individuals. Furthermore, much of this disease occurs in children. My capstone project will focus on how the environmental theory indicates that second-hand smoke is a leading cause of indoor air pollution. Children who live in homes with smokers are at a significant risk for developing asthma and severe asthma as a result of the poor air quality in the home. In 2004, 40% of children world-wide were exposed to second-hand smoke. Thirty-three percent of adults were. This leads to a tremendous health burden worldwide because of the poor air quality that these individuals are repeatedly exposed to in their homes, schools or work environments (Öberg, Jaakkola, Woodward, Peruga,et al, 2011). According to the Nightingale Environmental Theory, they could benefit from improved air quality.
- Lee, G., Clark, A. M., & Thompson, D. R. (2013). Florence Nightingale–never more relevant than today. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(2), 245-246.
- Monteiro, L. A. (1985). Florence Nightingale on public health nursing. American Journal of Public Health, 75(2), 181-186.
- Öberg, M., Jaakkola, M. S., Woodward, A., Peruga, A., & Prüss-Ustün, A. (2011). Worldwide burden of disease from exposure to second-hand smoke: a retrospective analysis of data from 192 countries. The Lancet, 377(9760), 139-146.
