The Holistic Nursing Interventions Audrey Smith

Since the early 1900’s nurses have been trying to improve and individualise patient care. In the 1970s this became more structured when the nursing process was introduced by the general nursing council (GNC), (Lloyd, Hancock & Campbell, 2007) .By doing this their intentions were to try and understand the patient in order to give them the best care possible (Cronin & Anderson, 2003). Through the nursing process philosophy care plans were written for patients. It was understood that this relationship would ensure the patient received the best care possible to suit them individually. This would consist of not just the patient as a physical being but their spiritual emotional and holistic being also (Cutler, 2010). The

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in depth exploration of the nursing care considerations of patients in a specific clinical area. Through the synthesis of prior knowledge, clinical experiences and skills, evidence based best practices, and care of patients a comprehensive care and teaching plan will be composed. Integration of critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills, combined with evidence-based research will provide confirmation of nursing process comprehension. The inclusion of reviewed literature will further support knowledge and understanding.

This piece of work will be based on the pre-assessment process that patients go through on arrival to an endoscopy unit in which I was placed in during my second year studying Adult diploma Nursing. I will explore one patient’s holistic needs, identifying the priorities of care that the patient requires; I will then highlight a particular priority and give a rational behind this. During an admission I completed under the supervision of my mentor I was pre-assessing a 37 year old lady who had arrived to the unit for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During the pre-assessment it was important that a holistic assessment is performed as every patient is an individual with unique care needs as the patient outline in this piece of work has

This assignment will reflect on the effectiveness of my clinical and interpersonal skills in relation to my position as a nurse in a busy critical care unit. It will primarily focus on one particular patient and the care they received by myself in their immediate post operative period. In accordance with the NMC’s code of professional conduct names will not be used to protect the patient’s confidentiality. NMC (2008).

Holistic nursing to me is a practice of applying both subjective and objective patient assessment into the plan of care. Not only do we need to look at the physical condition of the patient, but also their social and environmental factors that influence their state of health. When this application process is incorporated into the patient plan of care, we are incorporating all aspects of the patient’s life that help define and create their ideal state of health. In review of several nursing theories discussed by Montgomery-Dossey and Keegan (2012), which incorporate the aspect of holistic nursing practice, I found that Jean Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring was most closely linked to aspects of my current nursing practice.

Dale Gordon has been a patient in the ICU for 6 days after developing complications after open heart surgery. He is an 82-year-old African American who is disoriented to place and time. He lives with his daughter Claudia in her home. Claudia and her two brothers visit Mr. Gordon daily since he has been hospitalized. Mr. Gordon has not been eating well since the surgery and has lost 3 pounds. Mr. Gordon has type 2 diabetes and is on oral antihyperglycemic medication. Before he came to the hospital, Mr. Gordon was able to only ambulate for short distances. He has orders to get up in a chair twice a day. Joan, a student nurse, is caring for Mr. Gordon this morning. She has reviewed his medical record and is now ready to start caring for him.

Florence Nightingale’s theory will be used in developing a care plan for this case study, which describes a 68 year old widow, Mrs. Adams, who was discharged home to a not so favorable home environment. Mrs. Adams is a diabetic with a history of hypertension and breast cancer. She is five days post right sided mastectomy, of which she is complaining of pain and drainage from the surgical site. Her home is an apartment located in a low income area where crime is widespread, so noise is likely an issue. Her physician has referred her to case management because he feels she cannot care for herself. The community health nurse’s observations were that Mrs. Adams’ apartment was in disorder with little airflow and light, as well as a lack of food. She owns three cats and a small dog, which she considers family since her husband passed away one year ago, and if the patient is not looking after herself, it is highly unlikely that she is properly caring for her pets.

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

Furthermore, a multidisciplinary team meeting will be presented to identify the impact of different health care professionals such as a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and a nurse have on a patient with complex need and how the patient receives the care needed due to the collaborative practice. In addition, a comparison between physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nursing practice will be outlined

I am a second year nursing student in my third week of the practicum placement on a surgical ward with my co-student and the morning shift registered nurses. We had just finished analysing the patients handover report (Levett-Jones & Bourgeois, 2015) and I had been assigned to work with the registered nurse. I was looking after Mrs. Brown (pseudonym) is 82 years old New Zealander was admitted to surgical ward on the 08/06/16 for multiple SCC removals from L) hand and L) foot with skin grafts.

Analyzing the journey of a hospitalized patient is imperative in nursing practice in order to produce holistic, strengths based care (Gottlieb, 2014). When examining the patient and his or her journey, it is crucial for the nurse to explore many factors including the patient’s personal history leading up to admission, the unique and individualized care plan, impacting strengths and gaps within the healthcare system, as well as the factors affecting discharge care and planning. For the purpose of this paper, a patient by the name of Anna will be explored in order to highlight essential aspects associated with providing holistic care.

This essay is a discussion about my experience during the first two weeks of my clinical placement in an older adult ward. My experiences will be demonstrated using the various nursing skills acquired thus far. The reflective account used is adopted from the work of Driscoll (2007) which splits the essay into three segments namely a) what happened, b) so what, (what were my feelings, what was good and what was wrong about the experience, c) now what, (if I find myself in that same situation what would I do differently).

This essay will explore a needs orientated approach to the care that is delivered to a patient and examine the significance of the use of models and frameworks in the nursing process. It is intended to identify a patient with biopsychosocial needs that requires nursing intervention. Their holistic plan of care will then be critiqued in relation to the nursing model and framework utilised by the nursing staff.

In the professional setting, knowing the patient through his or her diagnosis, name, history of present illness, laboratory results or reason for staying in the hospital only contributes to the manner of physical care of the patient. However, recognizing the patient 's spiritual needs such as emotional support, mental positivity, and intellectual understanding of his or her situation gives a better assessment, as well as a trusting relationship between the nurse and the patient, as per personal experience. In the ward, it is evident that most of the staff nurses spend their time doing documentations, preparing medications, following-up laboratory requests, as well as reading through the patients ' charts to affirm the physician 's order. Throughout the duration of our shifts as student nurses, I see that the most that the staff nurses get to be conversant with the patient is when certain procedures (such as feeding through nasogastric tube, taking

A surgical nurse is responsible for monitoring and ensuring quality healthcare for a patient following surgery. Assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention, and outcome evaluation are inherent in the post operative nurse’s role with the aim of a successful recovery for the patient. The appropriate provision of care is integral for prevention of complications that can arise from the anaesthesia or the surgical procedure. Whilst complications are common at least half of all complications are preventable (Haynes et al., 2009). The foundations of Mrs Hilton’s nursing plan are to ensure that any post surgery complications are circumvented. My role as Mrs Hilton’s surgical nurse will involve coupling my knowledge and the professional