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Article: Public Health Nursing
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING
Public health nursing is a specialized form of registered nursing that combines nursing and public health principles. According to the American Public Health Association, the primary focus of public health nursing is improving the health of the community as a whole rather than just that of an individual or family. Public health nursing is sometimes called a type of community health nursing. Some experts use the terms "public health nursing" and "community health nursing" interchangeably.
HISTORY
Public health nursing traces its roots to England where, in 1859, Florence Nightingale assisted in organizing district public health nursing. Each nurse was assigned a ...