Holistic Care reply 2

Reply to post below with additional information. 2 reference within 5 years.

Currently, there are many definitions of holistic care. In my opinion, holistic care is the patient-centered care from medical practitioners and patient’s families, meeting the needs of treatment and daily activities to ensure the safety, quality, and satisfaction of patients. I have considered the term ‘holistic’ as ‘whole’ which means approaching the patient as a ‘whole’ person and not only taking into account body, mind, emotions, and spirit, but also culture, family, friends, and life experiences.

Advanced Practice Nursing needs to understand the ingredients that make up holistic care, including: (1) People are the subject of care, including physical, mental trust, social factors, and medical knowledge of each individual, family, or community. (2) The environment affects people including the internal factors of each person and the external factors that affect the health status of each person. (3) Health is a health condition or illness that each person experiences. (4) Nursing care is a caregiver’s actions, characteristics, and attitudes. These ingredients are the same as the principles of Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring.

To successfully treat a patient, the APNs must have the necessary knowledge of the illness and an understanding of the physical and emotional effects that the illness can have on a person. As holistic care becomes more prevalent in healthcare settings, the APNs have the opportunity to combine alternative methods with traditional methods to enhance patient care. (1) Aromatherapy: various essential oils can treat a wide variety of conditions such as sore throats, ear pain, and bladder infections, or relieve the persistent symptoms of illnesses such as asthma, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. For example, lavender can relieve stress and promote sleep, or eucalyptus reduce coughing or sinusitis, especially when infused in a hot, steamy shower. (2) Mind-body technique: many research shows that your mental state can affect your health. Therefore, techniques like meditation, hypnosis, and guided imagery can help relax and focus on something other than your pain. They can also lessen the side effects of medications. (3) Exercise: gentle movement can help reduce fatigue and stress, and help you sleep better like yoga, tai chi. (4) Nutritional counseling: consult a nutritionist to advise patients on the foods they need to prevent or treat nutritional problems, manage side effects of treatment, helping the patient’s body fight infection, etc.

Holistic care can improve patient care because it delves into how a patient can reduce the risk of disease or injury and it increases the likelihood of a positive outcome. Individualized care allows patients to heal by changing their lifestyle choices and applying their beliefs to treatment. The APNs can use these to help the patient cope, adapt, and recover aim to patient’s satisfaction.

References:
The American Holistic Nurses Credentialing Corporation (AHNCC), (2017). Core Essentials for the Practice of Basic Holistic Nursing. Retrieve from https://www.ahncc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2017-BASIC-HN-CORE-ESSENTIALS-Final.pdf

Joel, L.A. (2018). Advanced Practice Nursing Essentials for Role Development 4th ed. F.A. Davis Company.

Original question: Holistic care refers to approaches and interventions that address the needs of the whole person: body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Consider the following case study:

You are caring for a first-time mother in a health clinic. While assessing the woman, you notice she is becoming visibly upset. When you ask, she notes that her mother, with whom she was very close, died last year and that she really would have loved to have shared this pregnancy with her. You empathize with the patient, as your own mother just died 6 months ago. She also notes that she and her partner have been bickering a lot lately on top of her feeling generally sore, tired, and overwhelmed.

Define holistic care in your own words. Describe four ways you can implement a holistic nursing approach to care and facilitate healing. In addition, you may consider the intersection of holistic care and caritas principles from Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring/Caring Science from Week 1.