Forging Professional Public Health Nursing in a Southern State: Florida's Public Health Nurses, 1889 to 1934
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Major/Program
History
First Advisor's Name
Kirsten E. Wood
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Darden A. Pyron
Third Advisor's Name
Sherry Johnson
Fourth Advisor's Name
Patricia L. Price
Keywords
professional nursing, public health, Florida
Date of Defense
6-26-2012
Abstract
From 1889 to 1934, Florida’s nurses belonging to a new group of professional women ushered in a pioneering phase of public health nursing in Florida. During this era, the nurses’ ability to confront health and professional issues varied a great deal but in quiet and forceful ways they tackled cultural and environmental problems to assist people who were ill or help prevent people from becoming ill. This dissertation places the development of professional public health nursing in its social context by uncovering the relationships public health nurses formed with clubwomen, the medical profession, city leaders, midwives, and others.
In 1888, there were few graduate nurses in the state, no state board of health and no organized nursing service to respond to Jacksonville’s great yellow fever epidemic. By 1934, national and state leaders of public health nursing had built up the profession to become an essential part of the State Board of Health’s service to the community. Between these milestones, in the era of white supremacy and Jim Crow, public health nurses combined their professional training with a pioneer spirit of innovation and risk-taking. In the predominately rural state, the public health nurses’ resolve to overcome environmental hazards and cultural obstacles stands out as they attempted to reach those who were unserved or underserved by modern medicine.
Identifier
FI12071701
Recommended Citation
Ardalan, Christine, "Forging Professional Public Health Nursing in a Southern State: Florida's Public Health Nurses, 1889 to 1934" (2012). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 663.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/663
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