Bertha Harmer's 1922 textbook - The Principles and Practice of Nursing: clinical nursing from an historical perspective

Aims and objectives. This study analyses the origins of a widely used textbook of nursing, commonly utilised in North American Schools of Nursing since 1922, and eventually worldwide. A biography of its first author, Bertha Harmer, is also included. Background. Tracing central ideas of nursing throughout the various editions, the book provides a commentary on the cultural-historical context of nursing and reveals how nursing leaders conceptualised the day-to-day knowledge base nurses would need for their practice. Design and methods. Historical analysis. Results. The core nursing concept of 'human needs' was central to Harmer's work and thinking. Conclusions. Its continuous development by her and her later co-author, Virginia Henderson, reflected broader changes in nursing that were central to the construction of nursing as hospital-based care during the twentieth century. Relevance to clinical practice and conclusion. Renewal of nursing practice exists by the virtue of nurses' collective ability to question continuously and critically, the foundations of their practice. Historical analysis of core nursing concepts is one approach to further such critique.