NUR 460 Module 1 History of Nursing Mini Presentation Example

Reviewed by Ingrid Vasterling, MSN, RN Arizona State University Updated October 2026

This NUR 460 Module 1 sample is the History of Professional Nursing mini PowerPoint, a short deck posted to the discussion board in the opening module of The Art of Nursing. ASU NUR 460 is part of the online RN to BSN program, and its first module covers nurse leaders, nursing in war and the growth of the profession, so the mini presentation picks one moment from that history and explains why it matters now. The composite presenter, a nurse at a rural critical access hospital in eastern Arizona, chooses the 1918 influenza pandemic. Six slides with speaker notes describe what nurses faced, how Lillian Wald's visiting nurses organized New York's response, what the pandemic cost nurses themselves, and three lessons that still apply.

CourseNUR 460 The Art of Nursing
ModuleModule 1
Paper typeMini presentation, slides with speaker notes
LengthAbout 709 words, 5 pages
FormatAPA 7 slide deck with speaker notes
SchoolArizona State University
ProgramRN to BSN
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for NUR 460 Module 1

1

Nurses in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: What the Front Line Looked Like Before Vaccines and Antivirals

Student Name

Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University

NUR 460: The Art of Nursing

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title names the historical event and frames it by what was missing, vaccines and antivirals, which sets up the deck's argument that skilled nursing care was the main treatment available.
2

Slide 1: Why 1918

The 1918 to 1919 influenza pandemic: one of the deadliest outbreaks in U.S. history. No vaccine, no antivirals, no antibiotics. Nursing care was the treatment.

Speaker notes: For my mini presentation I chose the influenza pandemic of 1918 because it shows nursing at its most essential. When the second wave struck in the fall of 1918, there was no influenza vaccine, no antiviral drug and no antibiotic for the bacterial pneumonia that killed many patients. What physicians could offer was limited. What nurses offered, rest, fluids, warmth, cleanliness, observation and comfort, was often the difference between recovery and death. I work in a small hospital in the White Mountains, and during COVID-19 our nurses felt some of the same isolation and strain, which is part of why this history interests me.

Slide 2: The Work Nurses Did

Home visits, hospital wards and emergency hospitals. Fever care, fluids, positioning, keeping patients warm and clean. Teaching families to care for the sick and protect themselves.

Speaker notes: Historian Arlene Keeling describes nurses in 1918 working in hospitals, emergency hospitals set up in schools and armories, and in homes, where whole families were often sick at once. Skilled nursing care was critical to patient outcomes, and support from governments, community organizations and volunteers was as important then as it was during COVID-19 (Keeling, 2021). Nurses also taught families how to care for patients and how to limit spread, so their work reached far beyond the patients they touched directly.

Slide 3: Lillian Wald and the Henry Street Response

Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service, New York City. Wald led a citywide nursing plan in the second wave. Data-driven decisions, home visits, teaching, a diverse workforce.

Speaker notes: Lillian Wald, who founded the Henry Street Settlement and its visiting nurse service, led a large part of New York City's public health nursing response from September through December of 1918. A historical case study of her leadership found that it rested on a community-wide strategic plan, decisions based on data, visiting nursing services, teaching in the home and a diverse workforce (Wanyo, 2023). In modern terms, she combined incident command, surveillance and community health nursing before those terms existed. That is the leadership lesson I want to carry: in a crisis, organization and information are as much nursing work as bedside care.

Slide 4: What It Cost Nurses

Nurses were exposed every day. Among U.S. military nurses, illness-related mortality was about 1.05%, higher than among U.S. medical officers. Risk varied widely by setting.

Speaker notes: Caring for influenza patients put nurses at risk. A review of military records and obituary notices found that illness-related mortality among U.S. military nurses during the pandemic was 1.05%, about one and a half times the rate among U.S. medical officers, and that mortality was roughly twice as high among nursing officers assigned in the United States as among those in Europe (Shanks et al., 2011). The authors suggest that nurses new to an assignment may have faced exposures their bodies had not encountered before. Behind those numbers were nurses who chose to keep working while colleagues fell ill around them.

Slide 5: Three Lessons for Today

Skilled nursing care matters most when treatments are few. Public health nursing needs planning and data. Nurses need protection and support too.

Speaker notes: Three lessons connect 1918 to my practice. First, when there is little else to offer, fundamental nursing care is not basic; it is lifesaving. Second, a pandemic response depends on nurses who can organize, use data and teach communities, as Wald's nurses did. Third, nurses are exposed and need protection, rest and staffing support, which our profession argued for again during COVID-19. In rural hospitals like mine, where one nurse may cover several roles, that third lesson is especially important.

Slide 6: Discussion Question

How did your unit's experience during COVID-19 echo what nurses faced in 1918, and what should nursing ask for before the next pandemic?

Speaker notes: Classmates who nursed through COVID-19, I am curious how your experience compares. Did you see the same mix of courage, improvisation and exhaustion that historians describe in 1918? And what support should nurses insist on now, while there is time to prepare?

References

Keeling, A. W. (2021). Nurses on the front line: The 1918 influenza pandemic and COVID-19. Nursing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000756352.39139.16

Shanks, G. D., MacKenzie, A., Waller, M., & Brundage, J. F. (2011). Low but highly variable mortality among nurses and physicians during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 5(3), 213-219. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-2659.2010.00195.x

Wanyo, C. A. (2023). Wald's leadership: Public health nurses' response to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Public Health Nursing, 40(6), 868-875. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.13242

NUR 460 Module 1 instructions, in plain terms

The posted ASU syllabus for this course lists three graded boards in Module 1: an introductions discussion, the History of Professional Nursing mini PowerPoint, and a post on your future contribution to nursing. Topics for the module include nurse leaders, nursing in war, the profession from the 1960s to the present, and nursing education past and present, supported by videos and library searching rather than a textbook, since NUR 460 has none. The mini presentation usually asks you to choose one person, event or era, explain its significance with scholarly sources, and invite classmates to respond. Discussions carry half of the course grade, so even short boards deserve care. Check Canvas for the slide limit and whether narration is required.

Inside the NUR 460 Module 1 example

Six slides make up the deck; each holds a short headline block, and the notes under it carry the narration. It opens by explaining why the 1918 pandemic is worth studying, then describes nurses' work in hospitals and homes using a historian's account. A slide on Lillian Wald summarizes a recent historical case study of her leadership and translates it into modern terms. A slide on the cost to nurses reports mortality figures from military records accurately. The fifth slide draws three lessons for current practice, and the last poses a discussion question to classmates. Three peer-reviewed sources are cited where their content appears. Slide text stays short enough to read at a glance, while the notes carry the explanation a narrator would give.

Reading the NUR 460 Module 1 grading rubric

Mini presentations on these boards are usually graded on the accuracy and relevance of the historical content, the use of scholarly sources, a clear link between past and present practice, slide design and clarity, and engagement with classmates. Because NUR 460 has no textbook, instructors pay attention to whether sources come from the ASU Library rather than general websites. Speaker notes or narration that explain each slide help graders see your understanding. A closing question that invites real discussion, followed by thoughtful replies, often earns the final points. Late posting reduces credit on boards that carry this much weight. Accurate dates and figures matter on a history board, since classmates may repeat them in their replies.

NUR 460 Module 1 help with common mistakes

Students often choose a famous figure and repeat a biography without saying why it matters to nursing today. Pick one event or leader and draw a few lessons. Another mistake is relying on general websites for history; peer-reviewed historical articles are available and stronger. Report numbers exactly as the source gives them. Let each slide carry only a phrase or two, with the story told in your narration. Make your discussion question specific enough that classmates can answer from their own experience. For a mini deck on the history topic you picked, share the prompt with the desk. Check that the event you choose has at least two scholarly sources you can actually open, and keep quotations short. A narrated version should stay within the time limit.

Write yours, or have the desk draft it

This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

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NUR 460 Module 1 questions, answered

Where can I find a free NUR 460 Module 1 sample paper?

Everything is above: a six-slide deck, notes included, on nurses in the 1918 influenza pandemic, Lillian Wald's response, what it cost nurses and lessons for today, with references.

What topic should I choose for the NUR 460 history presentation?

Choose one nurse leader, war, era or turning point in nursing education and explain its significance for current practice with scholarly sources.

Does NUR 460 have a textbook?

The syllabus states there is no textbook; materials are embedded in the course, so use the ASU Library for scholarly sources.

How many slides should the NUR 460 mini PPT have?

Check Canvas. A mini presentation is usually short, often five to eight slides with notes or narration.

How do I connect nursing history to practice in NUR 460?

Identify two or three lessons from the event and show where they appear in your own work or in current nursing issues.