The case for researching the history of community nursing practice

Despite a flurry of interest in the 1980s, the adoption of a positivist, objective, scientific paradigm for nursing research has led to a rejection of the study of nursing history as a valid pursuit in recent years. In this article, it is argued that this is a precarious situation. By not examining the history of the profession, nursing -- and in particular community nursing -- undermines its efforts to validate itself within the wider health-care arena. Nursing must learn from the mistakes of the past, as well as the successes, but do so in a critical way that does not romanticize its history.