Florence Nightingale

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to cast new and refreshing light on Florence Nightingale's life and work by examining her personality type. Using the theory-based Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the author examines Nightingale's personality type and reveals that she was an introverted-intuitive-thinking-judging (INTJ) type. The merit of using the MBTI is that it allows us to more clearly understand three major areas of Nightingale's life that have been partially unacknowledged or misunderstood: her spiritual development as a practicing mystic, her management of her chronic illness to maintain her prodigious work output, and her chosen strategies to transform her visionary ideas into new health care and social realities.