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Utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has increasingly grown over the years in use and popularity (Bauer et al., 2020). One reason for this is the holistic health belief system many people with influence practice and share on platforms such as social media (Gardenier et al., 2016). These treatments are also non-invasive, cost effective, and easily accessible which is more palatable for patients who do not prefer convention medication treatment (Karadag et al., 2015). Another reason for the embrace of CAM and integrative medicine in mainstream healthcare institutions is the growing research of the benefits of use (Bauer et al., 2020). For example, for individuals suffering from sleep difficulties or types of anxieties, aroma therapy is used to help create calm and soothing environments without the use of taking medications by mouth. This treatment modality has also been used to supplement tradition medicine, also known as integrative medicine (Bauer et al., 2020).
According to Karadag et al. (2015), lavender essential oil was shown to improve the quality of sleep and promote relaxation in patients with anxiety in intensive care units. Treatments used by many which fall into the category of CAM and are used in integrative medicine include acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, meditation, herbal supplementation use, yoga, and reiki (Bauer et al., 2020). According to Gardenier et al. (2016) over 34.4 billion dollars is spent on several types of CAM in the United States. These approaches to health care delivery, create opportunities for collaboration. Partnering with other professionals who specialize in CAM therapies is essential as some CAM therapies and methods may be out of the scope of practice for many practitioners (Gardenier et al., 2016).
For example, a client being treated with antidepressant therapy for Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent, moderate goes to therapy for CBT once a week and also frequently attends reiki treatments is someone who would require all providers to collaborate to ensure safe and effective treatment. Holistic nursing takes a similar approach to CAM and integrative medicine, treating the patient as a whole or healing the whole person (Brewer et al., 2019). This outlook and treatment approach is widely caught in nursing schools. Knowledge and understanding of how CAM and integrative medicine works is important for the advanced nursing practitioner to have.
According to Gardenier et al. (2016), advanced nurses such as DNPs with specialization in holistic nursing and knowledge of these treatments can communicate effectively with patients regarding potential harms, risks and benefits. The authors emphasized the need for advance nurses to educate themselves regarding CAM as many patients have reported use of these types of treatments but did not disclose use simply due to not being asked (Brewer et al., 2019). Due to the holistic nature of nursing practice, advanced practice nurses are seen as leaders in healthcare teams applying CAM, traditional medicine and integrative medicine as apart of treatment. However, some barriers and challenges could arise. For one, other healthcare providers on the team may not share the same views and beliefs of these types of therapies and may insist on solely using conventional medicine (Brewer et al., 2019). Another possible challenge and barrier could be the extent of knowledge regarding a type of therapy such as acupuncture. Again, collaborating with CAM specialists as a leader improved the practitioners understanding and knowledge and provided safe and effective quality patient care (Gardenier et al., 2016).
References:
Bauer, B., Townsend, K., Cutshall, S. M., Hazelton, J. K., & Mahapatra, S. (2020). Advanced practice providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and utilization of complementary and integrative medicine at an academic medical center. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 26(5) p. 8 -16. https://wilkes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.wilkes.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/advanced-practice-providers-knowledge-attitudes/docview/2493544275/se-2?accountid=62703
Brewer, N. J., Turrise, S. L., Kim-Godwin, Y. S., & Pond, R. S. (2019). Nurses’ knowledge and treatment beliefs: Use of complementary and alternative medicine for pain management. Journal of Holistic Nursing 37(3) p. 248-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010118822212
Gardenier, D., Woods, M. J., & Earp, J. K. (2016). Should nurse practitioners prescribe complementary and alternative medicine? The Journal for Nurse Practitioners 12(3). doi:10.1016/j.nurpra.2015.12.010
Karadag, E., Samancioglu, S., Ozden, D., & Bakir, E. (2015). Effects of aromatherapy on sleep quality and anxiety of patients. Nursing in Critical Care 22(2) p. 105-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/nicc.12198