The anesthesia death rate was one in one hundred anesthetics at the time. She understood the power of words and how using hypnosis to help patients change their thoughts helped them heal.Īnother nurse, Alice Magaw, a pioneer in nurse anesthesia wrote an article in 1906 titled, A Review of Over Fourteen Thousand Surgical Anesthesias. She spoke at length in her book on the benefits of music, color, aroma, physical activity, fresh air, and exercise. Florence Nightingale was more in tune with complementary therapy in 1859 than most nurses and physicians are today. In her book, Notes on Nursing, published in 1859, Florence Nightingale said, 'Volumes are now written and spoken upon the effect of the mind upon the body.' She discussed in detail how nurses should help patients vary their thoughts.
