Revising the Cornerstones of Public Health Nursing for Global Relevance

BACKGROUND: The Cornerstones of Public Health Nursing encompass the values and beliefs foundational to public health nursing practice. A comparison of the original Cornerstones, developed more than 20 years ago, with recent revisions of nursing ethical guidelines led to an update of the Cornerstones to enhance their global relevance. METHOD: We compared the Cornerstones with nursing ethical guidelines to identify missing concepts in the Cornerstones, surveyed members of the Global Network of Public Health Nursing (GNPHN) about suggested revisions, and consulted with two public health nurse experts involved in the original development of the Cornerstones. RESULTS: Feedback from GNPHN members and expert public health nurses led to the retention of four Cornerstones and the revision of six. Major changes included emphasizing global public health nursing practice and creating a new Cornerstone to focus on relationships with coworkers and the responsibility to self. DISCUSSION: The updated Cornerstones reflect values and beliefs predominant in nursing ethical guidelines and are more relevant to global public health nursing practice.