 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Janna L. Dieckmann, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 7460, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, 919.966.5686, dieckman@email.unc.edu
Provision of bedside nursing care services in the home grew progressively between 1945 and 1965, seemingly in response to a rapidly expanding population of the aged and chronically ill. Public health nurses found that responsibilities for this emerging population reduced services for traditional targets of care, including maternity, well baby, school health, and communicable disease services. In urban Philadelphia and New York City, as well as in rural North Carolina, public health services edged into a medical care model for the home-residing, chronically ill, reflecting the increasing societal importance of the acute care hospital. This absorption of public health and social welfare services into an increasingly powerful and hierarchal health care delivery system triggered conflicts in defining public health nursing roles: What were the boundaries of practice? Under whose control? Why and how was public health nursing practice constrained? Using primary and secondary historical documents from the study period, this paper will analyze the impact of the rise of hospital-based acute care services on public health nursing. Discussion of similarities and differences in home care programs between urban visiting nurse associations and rural public health departments will sketch the boundaries that influenced public health nursing practice between 1945 and 1965, and continue today.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Public Health Nursing, History
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.