Mary Seacole Complex Nursing Care – Medical/surgical | Assessment Task 1
Complex patient: plan of care and individual written report
Biography
Born in Kingston Jamaica, this extraordinary woman named Mary Seacole was a daughter of a Scottish army officer and a Jamaican doctress. She had two siblings, a brother by the name of Edward and a sister named Louisa. Her mother was a well-reputed traditional healer and had a full grasp of folk medicine. She ran a hotel named Blundell Hall where she cared for civilians and naval officers suffering from a wide spectrum of diseases ranging from cholera to yellow fever. The combination of good hygiene practice, empathy, and herbal remedies made this place a healing heaven for the injured and diseased citizens (Ramdin, 2005). It was at this very place and under the influence of her mother that Mary Seacole started developing an interest in nursing and folk medicine. She closely observed her mother’s treatment methods and began experimenting and practicing medicine on her favorite childhood companion, her doll. Then she began her medical practice on animals and afterward started helping her mother in caring for the patients at Blundell Hall (Seacole, 2005). As her father was a prominent Scottish army officer therefore this acquainted her with the army camp life and war. Her visits to army camps made her familiar with the medicinal practices carried out by the army doctors and she was able to learn official treatment methods employed by the army doctors in treating the war injuries. At the young age of 19 (roughly around 1820s), Mary Seacole traveled to London with her relatives, where she came across the terms of racism and colorism. Although Jamaica (her birthplace) had an intensive class system based on skin color, with black deemed as the color of slavery, she never had to face any color-related issues partially due to her half Scottish-half Jamaican heritage and partially because she was a daughter of well-reputed parents. In London, apart from her encounter with colorism, she was also introduced to a city of trading and commercial opportunities (Josephs, 1991). In 1836, she tied the knot with a merchant by the name of Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole and after the death of her husband in 1844, she completely absorbed herself in her work. In 1851, she moved to Cruces (Central America) to meet her brother and offered her nursing services in the cholera epidemic of Panama. Then she traveled to England to care for the soldiers of the Crimean war. In 1856, the Crimean war was over, afterwards, she joined the Roman Catholic Church and returned to Jamaica where she was regarded as a highly reputable doctress. Later on, Mary Seacole moved back to London where she actively got involved with the royal circle and served also as a masseuse for the Princess of Wales (Robinson, 2019).
Attributes and Values
Her leadership skills, in other words, her sense of responsibility in responding quickly to the individual needs of the patients is an excellent role model for modern nursing practices. This sense of responsibility stemmed from her empathetic nature and her nurturing mindset. An excellent example of her leadership skills is her services during the cholera pandemic of Panama. In 1951, during her stay with her brother in Panama, a cholera epidemic broke in Panama, and the scarcity of doctors further worsened the situation resulting in a high mortality rate. She single-handedly began the treatment of the patients, rich and poor, young, and elderly, men, women, and children. She used her knowledge in traditional medicine to devise an herbal syrup for the disease, although the treatment had a moderate success rate she never once wavered from her aim of caring for all those who were affected by this deadly epidemic. To further increase the efficacy of her treatment and to better understand the disease, she also performed an autopsy of a child who died from cholera (Ramdin, 2005, Robinson, 2019). And while caring for and nursing her patients, she also contracted cholera. Immediately after recovering from her illness, she again started treated the patients, and around 1852 this epidemic came to an end after which she moved to England to offer her services in the Crimean war. Her empathetic nature was a real source of all her attributes and achievements. Her life is packed with thousands of pieces of evidence of her emphatic nature. She nursed her ill husband till his death and provided endless care to a woman she designated as her patroness. One particular instance of her empathy is when she brewed tea for more than 200 soldiers in extreme weather and carried bandages, lint, needles, and medicine across the raging battlefield for soldiers all on her own during the Crimean war (Anionwu, 2012). Despite facing continuous rejections from the official war office about her request to join the nursing group in the Crimean war, she used her resources to travel to Crimea and also set up a British Hotel near Balaclava, which served as a mess table and quarters for sick and injured soldiers (Ramdin, 2005, Seacole, 2005).
Contribution and Achievements
Her life has been full of ups and downs. But her nursing feats were praised massively by notable army officials. She was awarded numerous high-rank medals such as the British Crimea medal, Turkish Order of the Medjidie, French Legion of Honor medal, and a Sardinian medal for her nursing and care for soldiers in the Crimean war (Staring‐Derks et al., 2015). After her return from the Crimean war, she was bankrupted but her efforts in nursing were recognized immensely by the British high officials and as a result of this a “Seacole Fund” was set up to support her finances. Many royals of that time which include Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburg, Duke of Cambridge, and numerous high-rank army officials contributed to this fund and this helped her in eventually buying a property in Duke Street Kingston (Robinson, 2019). A major contribution of Mary Seacole to the field of nursing is her biography “Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands” in which she describes her whole life in the context of the nursing experiences that she gathered by offering her services to multiple lands around the world. About a century after her death, in the 1950s, numerous buildings have been named after her in the Caribbean such as Mary Seacole House: Headquarters of the Jamaican General Trained Nurses Association. Many British nursing centers and training programs have been named after her such as Thames Valley University: Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice and Mary Seacole Program erected by National Health Service Leadership Academy.
Reflection
In conclusion, Mary Seacole’s life is one big story of determination, hard work, empathy, and leadership. All of these values constitute the backbone of nursing and any care provision profession. Her life was an amalgam of highs and lows, but she never once wavered from her true aim of serving mankind. She was a woman of great determination and was fully focused on putting her best foot forward for patient care. She went above and beyond and even utilized her resources to fulfill her aim. This clarity of mind and determination to provide the best care to her patients is what inspires me the most and is highly relevant in today’s time where sometimes a minor distraction or tragedy can make us forget our true aim. Emotional stability is one of the biggest attributes for nursing and this stability can only come from a determination to provide the best care for patients. This quality is the core of all professions and is a pre-requisite for nursing. Another factor which can be related to our nursing life is the optimism and passion for nursing, the ability to deal with unpleasant situations. Exemplary life of Mary Seacole gives a lesson of positivity to work during the phase of turbulence. An important phase of Mary’s life was to deal with the racism she faced of being black, but she never gave up. Racism and troubles in work used to exist in every era, by having self-determination and will of not giving up pushes nurses of today to put a mark in their field like a true leader. This virtual encounter with Mary Seacole: the nursing heroine of the past has widened my horizons even more regarding my profession and how I can provide quality care to the patients by serving them without seeking accolades and by making a difference in their quality of life.
REFERENCES:
ANIONWU, E. N. J. B. J. O. H. A. 2012. Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. 6, 244-248.
JOSEPHS, A. 1991. Mary Seacole: Jamaican Nurse and” Doctress”, 1805/10-1881. Jamaican Historical Review, 17, 48.
RAMDIN, R. 2005. Mary Seacole, Haus Publishing.
ROBINSON, J. 2019. Mary Seacole: The charismatic black nurse who became a heroine of the Crimea, Robinson.
SEACOLE, M. 2005. Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands: Penguin Classics, Penguin UK.
STARING‐DERKS, C., STARING, J. & ANIONWU, E. N. 2015. Mary Seacole: global nurse extraordinaire. Journal of advanced nursing, 71, 514-525.
