Structure of “Ventilation and Warming” in Notes on Nursing Written by Florence Nightingale in 19th Century: Introduction of Basic Physics to Nursing Students

“Basic Natural Science” for freshmen at Miyazaki Prefectural Nursing University has a component including physics. Here students learn three principles of thermal transfer; conduction, radiation, and convection through a series of experiments. The purpose of these experiments is to understand the structure of a method for the caring of breathing and temperature of patients as written in “Ventilation and Warming”, the first chapter of F. Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing. Students can then apply this structure to retain fresh air in today’s hospital rooms, and can then appreciate studying real physics incorporated into fundamental knowledge for nursing practice.