Introductory Notes on Lying-In Institutions: Together with a Proposal for Organising an Institution for Training Midwives and Midwifery Nurses

A scientific publication written in the late 19th century. This work discusses the establishment and management of maternity hospitals, addressing issues such as mortality rates and their causes in lying-in institutions. Nightingale aims to propose solutions for training midwives and improving the conditions for delivering women, thereby enhancing maternal care. The opening of this work sets the stage for a critical examination of midwifery practices following concerning statistics regarding maternal mortality rates. Nightingale details her observations from a training institution that reported a significantly high death rate of women due to puerperal diseases during its operation, leading to the closure of its wards. She emphasizes the need for better training for midwives and evaluates the environmental and procedural factors contributing to fatalities, proposing that better management of lying-in institutions could drastically reduce risks associated with childbirth.