Cultura de los Cuidados (Jun 1999)
The public health nurse history in Spain
Abstract
In Spain, at present does not exist the figure of the Public Health Nurse Specialist, although the creation of such a career speciality was taken into consideration by Law in 1987 (R.D: 992/1987). Nevertheless, the situation was somehow different in the first years of our century when the so called "Visitadora Sanitaria" (similar to District Nurse) was a nurse with a different education to those engaged in hospital clinical work or "practicantes", and who regarded health problems from a wider perspective: with a community vision. Why has such a figure not evolved into a Community Nursing Specialist?. Our primary aim here is to provide a global vision of Public Health Nursing starting from its origins in Great Britain and in the U.S.A. and focusing later on the evolution of this important figure in Spain.
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