Nurse-managed centres: an innovative structure for nursing education and care.

The development of nursing centres in the USA began in the late 1800s with the concept of community-based nursing care provided by district and visiting nurses. Primary roles included health promotion and safeguarding hygiene in addition to caring for the sick. Established in 1893, the Henry Street Settlement in New York, a public health nursing system providing direct access to health care, became a model for other agencies in the USA.