Question

The 5 Core Values of the Holistic Nursing Model:

1.Core Value 1: Holistic Philosophy, Theories and Ethics  

•Holistic nurses recognize the human health experience as a complicated, dynamic, relationship of health, illness, and wellness, and they value healing as the desired outcome of the practice of nursing.

•Holistic nurses hold to a professional ethic of caring and healing that seeks to preserve wholeness and dignity of self and others

2. Core Value 2: Holistic Caring Process

•Focuses on the totality of the human being: the inter-connectedness of body, mind, emotion, spirit, social/cultural relationship, context, and environment

3. Core Value 3: Holistic Communication, Therapeutic Environment, and Cultural diversity

•Assisting individuals to find meaning in their experience

•Attend to the subjective world of the individual

•Consider meanings ascribed to illness and deeper meanings of concern related to purpose of life

4. Core Value 4: Holistic Education and Research

•Holistic nurses value all ways of knowing

•Employ theories that focus on healing the whole person

5. Core Value 5: Holistic Nurse Self-care

•Self-care as well as personal awareness and continuous focus on being an instrument of healing are significant requirements for holistic nurses.

•Holistic nurses value themselves and care for themselves

•Strive for harmony in their own lives

•Engage in self-reflection (personal knowing)

How can you apply the concepts of the holistic model to nursing practice and how can you apply the concepts in the future?  

Answer 1

Holistic Nursing refers to a kind of nursing practice which focuses on treating the patient as a whole as opposed to merely treating the symptoms of their present condition. A holistic nurse, also called a complementary health nurse, is a board certified RN who takes a mind-body-spirit-emotion approach to the practice of traditional nursing.

• Holistic nurses often employ alternative forms of medicine alongside traditional Western medicine in their practice. This may include dietary advice, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and meditation therapy.
• Those practicing holistic nursing often will encourage patients to integrate self-care, self-responsibility, spirituality, and reflection into their lives so as to help maintain a proper balance of mind, body, and spirit.
• The clarification of the concept offered a working definition of holistic nursing practice which practicing nurses can clearly comprehend and avail of when caring for patients of all race, religion and creed in the clinical practice area.
• Holistic nurses use a combination of Eastern and Western medicine to treat patients and teach their communities about wellness and preventative health care.
• For a holistic nurse, the health of a human being entails more than just their physical well-being., True wellness in a person will encompass not only physical health, but psychological, emotional, spiritual, and social health as well.
• As clinicians, it is the duty of the holistic nurse to provide a high standard of holistic care for their patients so as to help them maintain full spectrum health.

Some common techniques and therapies used in holistic nursing:

• Acupuncture
• Assist patients in stress management techniques
• Aromatherapy
• Massage
• Hypnosis, hydrotherapy, and balneotherapy
• Chinese and Eastern healing practices
• Wellness coaching

What Are the Roles and Duties of a Holistic Nurse?

• Recognize each patient as a whole: body-mind-spirit
• Practice mindful presence in all interactions with patients and colleagues
• Holistically assess patients, using traditional nursing concepts and therapeutic communication techniques to help identify a range of factors that could be potential contributors to increased stress.

How can you apply the concepts in the future?  

• Understanding that holistic health is your state of overall well-being right now is a dynamic, an ever-changing state of whole self being helps you make lifestyle and health choices that impact every area of your life.
• It is the sum total of all the choices you make and the actions you take each and every moment in every area of your life. The choices you make in those moments will be a major influence of your physical and mental welfare in the future.
• It is helpful to think of health and well-being as a continuum. What you think, how and when you eat, sleep, exercise and relate to others moves you either further on the continuum toward good health or away from it.
• Once you truly grasp the importance of the mind body spirit relationship, and address your personal welfare in each of those levels, the more likely you are to see an improvement in your quality of life.
• While people are living longer today they also are experiencing chronically high levels of stress and fatigue, are consuming nutrient depleted foods, and are exposed to hundreds of potentially harmful chemically through our air, water, cleaning, and personal care products daily. So to say that holistic health is important would be an understatement.
• For many living with chronic disease and undiagnosable symptoms, the modern-day healthcare industry has failed them, and it is time that a more holistic, whole-body solution became a standard part of the way we treat and support the health of the billions of people living on this planet.
• Holistic health also takes into account the many external and environmental factors which could be supporting or impacting our overall health and wellness, and with climate change impacting our surrounding environments more and more each day, it is important that we have a systematic way of addressing health in the future.