The historical evolution of the regulations for the Florence Nightingale Medal

Objective This study aimed to explore the 100-year changes in regulations for the Florence Nightingale Medal. Methods We used the announcements of the Florence Nightingale Medal awards as the research object to analyze – via historical and inductive methods – the regulations for receiving the Florence Nightingale Medal. Results In the award years, the greatest number of winners per award year was 71 and the lowest was 12. The medal was initially exclusively awarded to living people but evolved to include both living and deceased people. The recipients were balanced among all countries. The gender of the winners showed a changing trend from being limited to only females to including both males and females. There was also a shift from emphasis on only dedication of the recipient to equal emphasis on both dedication and innovation. Conclusions The selection criteria for recipients of the Florence Nightingale Medal evolved from consideration of those showing only dedication to equal consideration of both dedication and innovation.