Running head: Vision of Healing Healthcare 1

What is your vision of a caring, healing, holistic healthcare system?

California L. Caldwell

NUR4114 Metaphysical Nursing

Feb 23rd, 2017

I pledge
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Each person who considers the term healing has a different ideal about its meaning. This

can be based one ones circumstance, lifestyle, status, wellbeing, upbringing, or spirituality or

religion. In my personal circumstance, I believe that healing is the act and path of leading

someone to a place of comfort and sustainability. In healthcare, this is often different from the

manner in which we practice. We practice to fix people, not necessarily heal them. In a more

holistic healthcare system, we would practice more prevention measures, in addition to an

overarching holistic, team oriented care. Three ways we can culture a holistic, healing healthcare

system including not just survival, but preservation of spirit and life, remembering that the

patient experience outweighs anyone elses opinion, and educating nurses on spiritual care

practices.

When a patient is ill, it is instinct to do everything within your power to correct whatever

is making them feel sick, within reason. In cancer, we do this so much, that we often forget how

to treat the patient after their fight with cancer is won. Loh and Jonsson tell us that many cancer

patients go back out into the world with no idea how to behave or what to do. This is our failing,

as healthcare professionals. There is so much more involvement medical providers could have,

beyond just fixing our patient. Preservations techniques need to be learned, whilst, adaptation

might be necessary in their homes, work-places or community support projects. In addition,

readjustments towards lifes important tasks can be enabled via supportive care programs held in

the community (Loh, 2016). This patient who moves into a normal state of health with no tools

for existence or coping is failed just as severely as our patient who does not make it, and yet

many providers are done with the patient after they are no longer ill. " This view is often

reinforced by the culture prevailing in acute care hospitals, where priority is still given to the

physical domain of health and the biomedical model of care is still the norm (Saldani, 2016).
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This baseline capability is the true sign of being healed. If our patient can leave a nurse occupied

facility, and go back to life with power and a sense of self, they move from being a survivor to

being healed. In a caring, holistic healthcare system, nurses would incorporate occupational

preservation, role preservation, and adaptation resources into every patients plan of care. This

would include education, resources, and bonding from the healthcare providers. This would

preserve the life and spirit of patients, after survival.

The patient experience is second only to the patients life, and even then they are closely

intertwined. The patient is the one experiencing the disruption in their life. They have financial

concerns, health concerns, questions, and poor experiences that need to be evaluated and

discussed. We cannot create a healing healthcare system without addressing the concerns of the

patient population on a grand scale, as well as on an individual basis. Patients feel that they are

not active partners in their care and their wishes about care and opinions are not taken into

consideration (Sidani, 2016). The patient experience in the healthcare system is not just valid to

them, but to the future of healthcare, as each person influences change in some way. Nurses need

to empower patients by listening, reinforcing their ideals, and advocating for patient needs even

when it becomes unpleasant. Health professionals prioritize physical needs, whereas patients

want to discuss their feelings and manage their psychosocial concerns (Sidani, 2016). This

becomes an issue in the healthcare system, because if you do not listen to the needs of your

patients, you do not know them, and thus, will never fulfill them. In a healing healthcare system,

health care workers would listen to all of the patient needs, not just the needs related to medical

interventions or issues.

Spirituality is a large part of healing, even to patients who do not recognize a spiritual

connotation for themselves. Spirituality is also vital to the nursing role in caring for the patient. If
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a nurse does not know her own spiritual beliefs or emotions, he or she is incapable of helping

others in spirituality. For both of these reasons, many patient are spiritually neglected during

nursing care. An additional contributing factor is the possible discomfort or awkwardness for

some people when discussing non-palpable beliefs or thoughts. Based on the research results,

spiritual care is one of the basic elements of holistic nursery care. However, spirituality and

spiritual care are new concepts for nursery field (Ugurlu, 2016). Due to the large culture

discrepancy in the World today, and the recent addition to spirituality in care, it can be

intimidating to bring into a conversation with a patient. This emotional discomfort does not make

avoidance acceptable. A study on the coping abilities of patients with human immunodeficiency

virus (HIV), revealed that intense spiritual events allowed them to better cope with pain, anxiety,

despair, and impending death (Drury, 2016). It is imperative that we educate nurses on how to

broach this topic, when it is acceptable and how to maintain cultural sensitivity when discussing

spiritual preferences with patients. Research indicates that many nurses do not feel comfortable

or adequately trained to address the spiritual dimension of their patients (Drury, 2016). In

providing the needed training, we develop spiritually competent nurses, which develop more

holistic nursing care. The effect results in a system wide change, creating a more holistic, caring

healthcare experience overall.

In conclusion, we have many steps to take to become a truly healing healthcare system.

Holistic care involves all aspects of a person, physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual.

Change starts in each patient nurse relationship, to influence the overall system wide goal. In the

future, each nurse needs to take accountability of their patients life after survival, to promote

true healing. Each nurse also needs to know how to advocate for their patients and promote

patient centered care, as well as promote spiritual healing and offer it to all patients, while
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maintaining cultural sensitivity. These small changes can create holistic care for each patient. As

a system, healthcare needs to make changes as well. First, we must plan for the patient to return

to life after illness or injury, and implement programs to help them transfer back smoothly

whenever possible. Second, the system must become more aware of patient needs on an

individual basis and remain truly patient centered by encouraging patient involvement in care

and respecting patient knowledge and opinion. Finally, health care needs to promote spiritually

centered care, not just physical health centered care. This needs to be better promoted by

educating nurses on spiritual care more in depth and more frequently.

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References

Drury, C., & Hunter, J. (2016). The Hole in Holistic Patient Care. Open Journal of Nursing, 6(09), 776.

Loh, S. Y., & Jonsson, H. (2016). Cancer Survivorship Care: A perspective from an Occupational-

Participation Approach. J Cancer Sci Ther, 8, 179-184.

Sidani, S., van Soeren, M., Hurlock-Chorostecki, C., Reeves, S., Fox, M., & Collins, L. (2016). Health

professionals' and patients' perceptions of patient-centered care: a comparison. European

Journal for Person Centered Healthcare.

Ugurlu, N., evirme, A., Yavuz, N., & Eker, H. (2016). Evaluation of Nurses Spirituality and Perceptions of

Spiritual Care.