Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

History of nursing

In pre-modern times, nuns and the military often provided nursing-like services.[1] The religious and military roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today. For example, in Britain, senior female nurses are known as ‘‘sisters’’.

Florence Nightingale is often regarded as the founder of modern nursing, which flourished in response to the Crimean War. Other important nurses include Agnes Elizabeth Jones and Linda Richards who established quality nursing schools in the USA and Japan.

Linda Richards was officially America's First Trained Nurse, graduating in 1873 from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.

New Zealand was the first country to regulate nurses nationally, with adoption of the Nurses Registration Act on the 12th of September , 1901. Ellen Dougherty was the first Registered Nurse. North Carolina was the first state in the United States to pass a nursing licensure law in 1903.