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The aim of this study was to: (i) describe the practice patterns of Finnish public health nurses during the development of primary health care based on the 'population responsibility' principle; and (ii) to identify the relation of public health nurses' task division models and types of community (rural/town) to their practice patterns. A detailed recording of public health nurses' home and clinic visits was developed and used during three annual study periods in 8-9 health centers by 93-118 public health nurses. The total number of recorded visits varied annually from 4842 to 6841. Statistical significance was determined by Chi-squared. Significant differences were found between the three study periods and also in the practice patterns of public health nurses (PHN) with different task division models and of PHN working in different types of community. However, the short study periods limited the practical importance of these findings.