Rima Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Place: Claire Fagin Hall, Room 435
Abstract: In the first half of the twentieth century, concern for community health, particularly worries over the infant and maternal mortality rates and the increasing number of tuberculosis cases, spurred the development of public health nursing in the United States. Governmental and non-governmental agencies initiated such programs. Sometimes, states and local boards of health employed these nurses. Philanthropic and charity organization such as the American Red Cross and anti-tuberculosis societies sent out nurses. The number of public health nurses and the diversity of organizations supplying them indicate that U.S. society strongly believed in their effectiveness. Yet, as in contemporary public health efforts, their very number and diversity raised issues that limited their potential to improve the lives of their communities. Not infrequently, a county nurse, a city nurse, a Red Cross nurse, and a school nurse would practice in the same locale at the same time. Each nurse provided important health care and instruction, but without clear boundaries, their activities overlapped, resulting in inefficiencies and conflicts in the health care system.
In this presentation Apple begins her analysis of the processes and procedures that public health nurses employed to negotiate blurry professional roles. The specifics of every-day life document the tensions and achievements of nurses struggling with an inchoate public health system. Their examples provide useful points for the analysis of evolving public health systems today.
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