Person
A person is a being comprised of a soul, mind and body in a constant state of development. Nightingale might have argued that my philosophical starting point may be too broad and could include the entire animal kingdom. However, my definition includes those with and without thinking/reason abilities such as the unborn, newborns, the mentally impaired or the elderly with dementia.
Environment
The environment includes the external and internal factors that affect the person which is primarily rooted in the family through spiritual and cultural development. The person's environment can also be affected by dietary patterns, recreational activities, stress (internal or external), health behaviors and alterations in one's day-to-day coping mechanisms. I have heard nursing colleagues dismiss Nightingale's work as archaic and irrelevant to modern nursing in a techno-savvy era preparing for the next millenium. But her understanding of the bi-directional relationship of one's environment and health are as relevant today as they were more than 100 years ago as evidenced by the work of current psychoneuroimmunologists.
Health/Illness
Health is the balance of biological and spiritual dimensions of the person to fulfill one's potential throughout the life span. As an example, one can be biologically altered through illness but may compensate those deficiencies with spiritual rituals to relax and cope. Alternatively, a physiologically stable person can be unhealthy when the spiritual or emotional realm is neglected or absent. Health is more than the absence of a particular disease.
Nightingale understood health by first defining disease -- "a reparative process not necessarily accompanied with suffering . . . an effort of nature to remedy a process of poisoning or of decay" (Nightingale, 1860/1969, pg 7). She believed the laws of health equivalent to nursing which include sanitation and hygiene but cautioned nurses to leave physiological knowledge to doctors. In this concept we differ. 21st Century nurses who lack understanding of pathophysiology will perform nursing tasks as techno-automatons rather than health care professionals .
Nursing
Nursing is a scientific, practice-oriented profession to diagnose and treat human responses to actual and potential health problems (ANA, 1998). In Nightingale's famous work, Notes on Nursing, a nurse is "any person in charge of the personal health of another" (1860/1969, pg 139). However, her definition included both professionally trained nurses and "amateurs." As the nursing profession expands its scientific base through research we would do well to follow the personal example of Nightingale to nurture a commitment of intellectual growth not only in current technology but also understanding deeper concepts in philosophy/metaphysics, politics, cultural anthropology/ethnology and other venues that promote scholarship for the ultimate purpose -- health promotion for our clients.
Bibliography
American Nurses Association http://www.nursingworld.com
Nightingale, Florence (1860, reprinted in 1969) Notes on Nursing. Dover Publications, NY, NY.