Every profession has its own historical conditions and cannot be analysed in isolation from the prevailing reality. Nursing history is inextricably linked with the history of medicine. For many centuries nursing and treatment were carried out in conjunction. One of the first who isolated activities of nursing care was a Greek physician – Hippocrates, known as the „father of medicine”. Although nursing was already known in antiquity, one can speak of nursing as a profession only from the eighteenth century with the advent of the first secular nurses. However, in the Polish language the definition of the profession in the sense of a person – a nurse, appeared around 1900. Understanding the work of a nurse evolved with the changes of the philosophy of medicine. Currently, the scope and nature of the professional role of the occupation is being significantly expanded ​​in the areas of the interest in: an individual, a family, a social group, both in sickness and in health. Nurses are independent practitioners – competent professionals, and also members of a therapeutic team in professional activities and the organization and quality of work, who perform their duties on the basis of legislation.

Key words: training, profession, nurse, nursing, history.