In addition to academic material on nursing and hospitals, the journal provides information on people and events as well as photographs and advertisements.

It was established in 1888 as The Nursing Record, obtaining its final title in 1902.

[1] The journal was acquired in 1893 by Bedford Fenwick and his wife, Ethel Gordon Fenwick, the founder of the Royal British Nurses' Association,[3] who used it to support the campaign for the official registration of nurses.

[2] All issues of the journal are available online, having been digitised in 2001 following a grant from the Wellcome Trust.

[2] There has been a new version of the title published by MA Healthcare Ltd. since at least 1992.