Public health nursing is a specialized aspect of the nursing profession which merges public health principles with nursing values (Morrissey, 2012) . Its primary focus is to improve the community's health altogether instead of focusing on a single individual's health. The nursing profession has extensively evolved. Historically, the first documented nursing activities can be traced back to England in the mid-1800s (Morrissey, 2012). Florence Nightingale, the pioneer in the development of the nursing profession, trained the first nurses in the district nursing concept and assigned the responsibility of taking care of the health of individuals dwelling in different neighborhoods of London. Nightingale’s district model emerged in the US’s New York City in 1877 where graduate nurses were trained to provide care for the sick in their homes. It is within this period that Lillian Wald became the leader of public health nursing and established the Henry Street Settlement House in NYC’s Lower East Side with the assistance of her classmate. Realizing that societal problems were the foundation of illness in homes, Wald directed nurses to emphasize on areas concerning recreation, education, and sanitation. As such, she invented the name ‘public health nurse’ and was subsequently appointed the first president of the National Organization of Public Health Nurses established in 1912 (Morrissey, 2012) . Afterward, in 1913, the first public health nurse was appointed for the US Public Health Service.
Based on this concept of care, cities such as Philadelphia and Boston witnessed the sprouting of the Visiting Nurse Association in the early-20 th century (Morrissey, 2012) . For instance, Boston is one of the early cities that developed district nursing associations whose role was to meet the requirements of ailing children city health departments and adults from poor settings. Volunteer and governmental agencies such as Red Cross and city health departments also incorporated public health nursing in their programs respectively. The home care shifted to the clinic in the mid-20 th century which led to public health nurses (PHNs) to start working in immunization clinics and actively engage in controlling infectious diseases, for example, Tuberculosis. The role of a PHN has also evolved with the constant evolution of the public health infrastructure. One of the contributions of PHNs has been in surveillance and control of communicable diseases such as Tuberculosis. For example, in the US, tuberculosis was a leading killer disease in the 1900s (Morrissey, 2012) . But, as PHNs introduced antibiotics and other preventive measures to the communities, there was a decline in the rate of TB over time. However, in the early 1980s, new drug-resistant TB emerged which PHNs are providing TB testing services, surveillance, as well as case management (Morrissey, 2012) .
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Also, PHNs have also been providing vaccinations to the communities they work in from the era of few vaccines such as polio and smallpox vaccines. However, the list of vaccines has increased tremendously. Today, many immunizations are targeting different diseases. Early diseases such as smallpox have been eradicated, and polio, as well as measles, are no longer considered routine childhood diseases. Other vaccines that have undergone quite an evolution are the Flu vaccines. Since the 1918 Spanish flu to the 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic, PHNs have worked steadfastly to maintain the populace healthy. As a result, public, mass-vaccination clinics have proven more cost friendly as compared to physician office visits (Morrissey, 2012) .
Reference
Morrissey, J. (2012). The History of Public Health Nursing. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.eagletribune.com/news/local_news/the-history-of-public-health-nursing/article_7e21c287-599f-5103-af59-be4eb1cdf6f9.html
