Holistic Nurse Self-Reflective Assessment Essay

Holistic care is understanding the whole of a person. According to Beryll and Whitehouse 2010:9, Holistic care means looking at all of a person's needs such as their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual and providing opportunities for these needs to be met.

Nursing process is a systematic process that involves a continuous cycle of five interrelated phases: holistic assessment of a client, nursing diagnoses, nursing care planning, implementation, and evaluation (Wilkinson et al. 2015). It enables nurses to assess the person’s health status and health care needs, to create plans to meet the identified needs, and to provide and evaluate individualised nursing interventions according to the person’s needs (Luxford 2015). The holistic assessment is the first step of the nursing process that includes the collection of subjective and objective data related to the physical, psychological, social, developmental, cultural, and spiritual status of a client (Wilkinson et al. 2015). This comprehensive approach to nursing assessment is essential because it allows nurses to comprehend not only clients’ health status, but also their routines and needs in order to incorporate their life-styles into the care interventions (Luxford 2015). It ultimately enables nurses to provide appropriate quality person-centred care rather than nurse-initiated care (Luxford 2015). Responsibility for holistic nursing assessment is supported by the Registered nurse standards for practice (2016), ‘Standard 4.1: The registered nurse conducts assessments that are holistic as well as culturally appropriate’ (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA] 2016, p. 4). This essay will discuss the elements and the importance of holistic assessment in nursing.

Boswell, Cannon and Miller (2013) describe holistic nursing care as care which encompasses the whole person: the physical, spiritual, family and mental health (p.303). In practice, I found it useful to integrate the Te Whare Tapa Wha health model. Although this model was more specifically created for Maori clients I discovered that it can be incorporated into the care for everyone. The Te Whare Tapa Wha model involves caring for the whole patient, tending to all aspects of their health; suggesting

When asked to develop a personal nursing philosophy caring was found to be the main component. Jean Watson’s Caring Science as Sacred Science reflects this philosophy in which caring is the predominate component needed in nursing. This paper will provided basic information on the Caring Science as Sacred Science Theory. The paper will further provide a personal example of a patient experience in which this theory shaped the care and healing of the patient. The personal experience to be shown in this paper involves a patient with complex chronic illness. The patient had been hospitalized for over a month. Patients with chronic illness and in the hospital often experience feeling powerless, scared, distant, and confined (Kay Hogan & Cleary, 2013). When these feelings persist they overcome the patient and do not allow the patient to concentrate on healing or being an active member of the healthcare team. Patients in this situation need caring and psychosocial support before moving on with medical care. However, this can often be hard for the healthcare team. When a patient has complex complications often treating these issues is all the team has time for due to patient load and institutional demands. Jean Watson (2009) recognizes this in her work Caring Science and Human Caring Theory: Transforming Personal and Professional Practices of Nursing and Health Care. Watson (2009) recognizes nurses are often torn between values of human caring

Holistic assessments in nursing provide a unique quality of care to the individual patient. Holism in the provision of care includes assessments obtaining data about the physiological, psychological, sociological, spiritual, developmental, cultural and environmental aspects. It is imperative that the nurse conducting these assessments adopts methods in the nursing process that reflects the standards outlined in Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse to ensure the health and wellbeing of the patient is maximized and maintained throughout the time health care is received. Nursing processes are directed at restoring overall harmony for the patient therefore an understanding of the

There are many paths to become a holistic nurse. Most of them involve earning a bachelor of science in nursing, getting an RN license and then specializing in a field of integrated nursing. A holistic nurse provides direct care and intervention using various integrative therapies.

Holistic nursing care involves treating the patient mind and body, as well as providing comfort through prayer. The overall ideal goal of providing holistic care is treating the patient as a whole. There are certain standards and guideline designed by the American Holistic Nursing Association in which establish the core values of holistic nursing (Frisch, 2001, p. 1). This paper will discuss the core value number three: holistic communication, therapeutic environment and cultural diversity. Second, an interview was conducted with two co-workers Ms. C.D. and Ms. N.S. and Mrs. T.R., a family member concerning the selected core value. Their opinion concerning the selected core value will be further discussed in this paper. Third, the concept of healing and cure will be discussed, including the difference between the two terms. Fourth, a clinical experience will be discussed in there was no cure but healing demonstrated within the patient. Finally, there will be details of the healing process identified by the patient, family and nurse. The purpose of this paper is to discuss significance of core value number three: holistic communication, therapeutic environment and cultural diversity as it pertains to providing holistic nursing care.

Traditionally, nursing takes a holistic approach to practice by taking into account the person as a whole and considering the social, economic, physical, emotional, and psychological factors as contributing factors to a patient 's condition and recovery. However, the concept of holism is not specific to nursing or healthcare. Holism is even currently being studied by economists as it relates to how the lack of considering the whole, in this case meaning the all of te complexities of a economy, lead to the breakdown and ultimate failure of a successful economy (The Guardian).

Holistic nursing is defined as “all nursing practice that has healing the whole person as its goal” (Dossey, 2013). Holistic nursing treats the patient as a whole, treats the mind, body, spirit and emotion. There are many principles of holistic nursing care, the ones I choose to talk about are: emotional, mind, body, spirit, healing power and self-care.

Holistic means treating the patient as a whole. The mind, spirit, and body must be addressed when patients present with health problems or health-seeking behaviors. It is essential to incorporate holism in my daily nursing practice, because the patient feels that I truly care about them as a person instead of just caring for their disease. The holistic model of health assessment must include the patient’s culture and values, family and social roles, self-care behaviors, job related stress, developmental tasks, and failures and frustration of life (Jarvis, 2012). Cultural consideration is vital in education, compliance, and comfort of the patient.

Unlike in the traditional set up where patients were just recipients of care, today care process recognizes patients as active participants in their health. Providing a holistic care is a key priority in nursing environment which identifies that, care outspreads the walls of a facility. Holistic care aims at the healing of the entire individual’s life and not just about the individual’s sickness. Therefore, holistic care addresses the inter-relatedness of a person’s body, emotions, spirit, mind, context and environment. An accurate holistic care is said to be administered, when the nurse focuses only on all the aspects mentioned above. The Sister Castilla Roy Adoption Model is a notable theoretical model that offers a framework for holistic nursing practice and, “a premise of this theory is that an individual is in both psychological and biological mode as well as largely affected by the external environment (Ursavaş, Karayurt & İşeri, 2014).” Roy’s Adoption Model provides a means for the nurses to focus on their profession of

Throughout my years as a Gambian native from West Africa, I witness the lack of health services across the country as an adolescent. From there on, I decided to pursue a profession in the medical field. In 2014, I made the choice to apply to the nursing program at Towson University. I vividly remember rushing to the mailbox to open the letter, that would have read “congratulations, you have been accepted”, but for me, it was the opposite of what I had anticipated. A friend of mine informed me that the size of the letter indicated if I was accepted or not. Reading I was denied broke me into piece lead me to pursue another degree. Constantly, I thought to myself, what I would do with my future and how my parents will feel. It was already difficult to pay out-of-pocket every semester and work part-time while being a full-time student. Nursing is my gateway to accomplish other endeavors that would guide me to becoming a leader. My plan in life is to earn my Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and also serve as a leader within the health community. After a few months, I assure myself that everything happens for a reason.

As always, this week’s reading and activities are very enlightening, but more than than, it has re-awakened my consciousness to examine how I use my experience to understand and become involved in broader social and political issues affecting nursing (Black, 2014). After reading through chapter fifteen, I had to sit back and do a self appraisal on what steps I had taken since I became a registered nurse in an effort to effect a change or improve the nursing profession. To my surprise, I realized that I am not as politically aware as I have perceived myself and this explains my low score on the political astuteness activity. Nevertheless, the materials helped me see what steps to take in order to create self political awareness and actively participate in issues bordering on the nursing profession.

Holistic care is the hallmark of nursing practice.  It is said that to treat disease we must look at the whole person, spiritually, physically and psychologically. The classical definition of holism is that people are multidimensional. They are interacting wholes and more than the sum of their parts (Hancock, 2000). Focusing on holistic care when planning new developments and writing guidelines or policies is all to the good but is only meaningful if patients perceive that they receive holistic care from the staff with whom they have contact (Willis, 2002). Patients who receive holistic care may respond better to treatment because they perceive their whole being as being cared for.

On another note, no individual is without fault, myself included. As I self-reflect, I will identify some areas in need of improvement. As these areas are identified, strategies can be developed to improve my leadership skills as a servant leader. I have always been one to choose my battles carefully, and this might be directly related to that too nice issue mentioned earlier. This can sometimes prove a challenge. As discussed previously, the clinical manager and I can sometimes disagree with each other. This is one of those areas. When I chose the person that I wanted to lead the clinical team, I was careful to choose someone who complimented myself. Although we have the same goals, we have distinctly different personalities. At times, I may need to be more direct with the team. When a staff member did not initially come to work, we discussed the issue and she reported to work. I did not apply this to her permanent file, hoping it would not happen again after we discussed the issue. When the incident happened again, it was apparent I should have taken a more authoritative approach as suggested by my clinical manager.