Environmental Florence Nightingales: nursing's new front line.

Nurses comprise the largest health professional group in terms of number, and they can be found in almost every health care setting, including homes, schools, work sites, and hospitals. To a large extent, nurses have always been aware of environmental factors when doing their job, but the definition of environmental health nursing is being expanded. Today, in addition to considering the possibility of environmental influences when taking patient health histories, evaluating symptoms, and conducting community assessments, nurses may change environmental conditions of affected individuals or populations through direct care, teaching, advocacy, and public policy initiatives. Nurses are helping patients evaluate the relative risks of various types of environmental exposures, such as lead. And they are also playing a key role in establishing a national tracking system of environmental health as well as in conducting patient research.