Nursing as we know it is barely 150 years old, which makes it a young profession when
compared with the other disciplines of medicine, law, and teaching. As such, its identity and
position alongside the other learned professions are still being developed as scholars determine the
theoretical knowledge that underlies the traditional goal of providing a humanitarian service to
members of the community (Winstead-Fry 1977). The development of nursing as a profession
is clearly identified with the pioneer work of Florence Nightingale. Moreover, it is closely
associated with the emerging desire of women in the late 19th and 20th centuries to move out
of the domestic sphere and into the public arena. This was the beginning of the era of the “new
woman” who sought independence and fulfillment through the pursuit of a rewarding career.
But nursing, as a universal response to human need, is as old as humankind, with its roots in
ancient history. The essence of nursing is caring (Benson & McDevitt 1980). Nursing began because
somebody cared – somebody who had compassion for a fellow human being (Benson 2001, 1).
In the Bible, in addition to fulfilling their functions as nurturers and caregivers in the home and
family, educated women are performing in public roles such as midwives, surgeons, anatomists,
and teachers (Hurd-Mead 1977).
The earliest reference to a nurse is found in the scriptures, in the Book of Genesis; here, Rebekah’s
nurse is identified as a woman named Deborah (Hertz 1975, Genesis 24:59, 35:8).
There are biblical accounts of Phoebe, friend of Saint Paul, whom history has named the “first
deaconess and the first visiting nurse.” It is recorded that she went from home to home where
there was illness, out of the kindness of her heart. Public health nursing is an outgrowth of
“visiting nursing” or “district nursing,” so we look to the first century of the Christian era when
people were moved to sympathy and love to visit and care for the sick and suffering. The first
organized visiting of the sick in their homes began in those early days when the church established
the order of deaconesses and charged them with the Christian duty of visiting and caring for
those who were sick or in need (Brainard 1922).