Nursing Assignment: Public Health Nursing Throughout the Twentieth Century

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
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1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Describe the public health nursing role at different points in time throughout the twentieth
century.
The report published by the CDC confirms improving life expectancy of the general
population base by 25 years during the 20th century. Research studies and archives critically
depict ten major achievements in the field of public health that was reinforced in the 20th
century (Aschengrau & Seage, 2013). The beginning of the 20th century marked the invention
of the vaccines against infectious epidemics such as small pox, diphtheria and pertussis. The
invention of the vaccines and public promotion helped in significantly reduce the morbidity
and the mortality rate. In addition to this, improved public awareness about safety-belts and
safe-drinking helped in decreasing the mortality rate due to motor accidents by 90% (Baum,
2016). Also, improved sanitation measures helped in reducing the death rate due to
Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, Diarrhoea, Enteritis and HIV infection by a significant percentage.
The death rate due to cardiovascular diseases also reduced to half (Jones, 2014). The first half
of the 20th century witnessed the invention of improved food processing techniques such as
pasteurization and refrigeration that reduced the prevalence of foodborne infection. In
addition to this, the middle 20th century witnessed 90% decline in infant mortality and 99% in
the maternal mortality rate (West, 2014). Also, the latter half of the 20th century witnessed
improved family planning resulting in considerable gap between two child births and
reduction in the prevalence of tobacco use (Sphweb.bumc.bu.edu, 2019).
In what way are these roles similar or different from the standards of public health nursing;
community health nursing; or home care nursing in today’s contemporary society?
In response to the question, it can be stated that the vision and the mission for the
public health nurses or the community nurses have not changed with respect to that of the