title: Mary Seacole and claims of evidence-based practice and global influence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this paper was to explore the contribution of Mary Seacole to nursing and health care, notably in comparison with that of Florence Nightingale.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Much information is available, in print and electronic, that presents Mary Seacole as a nurse, even as a pioneer nurse and leader in public health care. Her own memoir and copious primary sources, show rather than she was a businesswoman, who gave assistance during the Crimean War, mainly to officers. Florence Nightingale's role as the major founder of the nursing profession, a visionary of public health care and key player in advocating 'environmental' health, reflected in her ownNotes on Nursing, is ignored or misconstrued.
  
  
  METHODS
  Discussion paper.
  
  
  METHODS
  British newspapers of 19th century andThe Timesdigital archive; Australian and New Zealand newspaper archives, published memoirs, letters and biographies/autobiographies of Crimean War participants were the major sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Careful examination of primary sources, notably digitized newspaper sources, British, Australian and New Zealand, show that the claims for Seacole's 'global influence' in nursing do not hold, while her use of 'practice-based evidence' might better be called self-assessment. Primary sources, moreover, show substantial evidence of Nightingale's contributions to nursing and health care, in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and many countries and the UK much material shows her influence also on hospital safety and health promotion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Guelph Guelph Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McDonald
keywords: Crimean War; Florence Nightingale; Mary Seacole; health care; nursing