Public Health Nursing

Public Health Nursing (PHN) is a nursing specialty focused on public health. Public health nurses "integrate community involvement and knowledge about the entire population with personal, clinical understandings of the health and illness experiences of individuals and families within the population.". Public health nursing in the United States traces back to a nurse named Lillian Wald who, in 1893, established the Henry Street Settlement in New York City and coined the phrase, "public health nurse."