Nursing: The Evolution Of Public Health Nursing

Public health nursing evolved to teach us that wellbeing needs to move outside the individual, to include the family and community, to make all of the population healthy (Truglio-Londrigan, & Lewenson, 2013, p. 5). Public nursing started out as district nursing, in England, where nurses transitioned from the hospital, to work with the sick poor in their homes. They took care of patients, families, and communities by protecting the poor from unsanitary conditions and teaching them hygienic routines. These nurses educated themselves about charitable establishments to help their patients in need (Truglio-Londrigan, & Lewenson, 2013, p. 27-28). From this, we can learn that we need to care for all of the population, regardless of their income,