Problems of Ethics and Scholarship in Nursing Publications

This article relates the flagrant instances of misinformation on Florence Nightingale, the major founder of professional nursing, in 2020, the bicentenary of her birth, and 2021. It notes the new trend to “pair” Nightingale with another supposed “nursing pioneer,” who was a businesswoman and generous volunteer, Mary Seacole, but who never portrayed herself as a nurse. The article goes on to cite the promotion of misinformation on the two by no less than the Queen, in her Christmas message of 2020, and by her heir, the Prince of Wales, on 12 May 2021, Nightingale’s birthday and International Nurses Day. The most extreme example of misinformation is that of the prince, who claimed joint status for Seacole with Nightingale in achieving the sanitary reforms in the Crimean War that saved large numbers of lives. Unlike Seacole, Nightingale played a role in these reforms, but credited the doctors and engineers of the Sanitary Commission who did the heavy work of renovation. The article calls for high standards of ethics and scholarship in nursing and health care publication. Health authorities, such as Britain’s National Health Service, should be the source of reliable information, especially in a pandemic. Misinformation on mere “historical” matters, not clinical, is not acceptable. Diversity and inclusion are valid goals of any health care system, but should be pursued with integrity. The article introduces a fine Black nursing leader, Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, who is ignored and yet should be celebrated for her contributions to nursing both in England and her home country, Nigeria.