You are caring for a first-time mother in a health clinic. While assessing the woman, you notice she is becoming visibly upset. When you ask, she notes that her mother, with whom she was very close, died last year and that she really would have loved to have shared this pregnancy with her. You empathize with the patient, as your own mother just died 6 months ago
Holistic Care in Advanced Practice Nursing
Holistic care revolves around offering support to patients’ needs that extend beyond their underlying healthcare needs. Further, this involves an in-depth consideration of the patient’s underlying multifaceted psychological, social, physical, cultural, and spiritual well-being. In this regard, healthcare providers focus on extensively understanding and acknowledging the patients’ point of view and their needs for person-centered healthcare outcomes (Wong et al., 2022). As a result, this allows for improved patient satisfaction rates for promoting improved acceptance of the situation and self-accountability for their continued wellness and well-being.
Approaches for Enacting Holistic Nursing Approach to Care and Healing
An effective approach for steering holistic care that also incorporates the Caritas principle of Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring is continuously addressing the patient by her name (Watson Caring Science Institute, 2022). In this regard, there can be an extension of love and kindness to the patient by giving her reassurance that everything will be okay. Another holistic approach entails showing the patient that their preference is esteemed (Wei & Watson, 2019). Consequently, there can be the amalgamation of the showcasing of an understanding of the patient’s spiritually-founded faith and its significance in steering her wellness and well-being.
Another holistic approach entails reassuring the patient that she needs her husband by her side during the care process. In this context, there can be a generation of trust that having her husband around, as her immediate family member, will help improve their relationship (Wei & Watson, 2019). As a result, the patient can be assisted in tackling her emotional, physical, spiritual, cultural, and social concerns. Another holistic approach entails showing the patient that they are highly esteemed through the extension of empathy (Wei & Watson, 2019). The approach can be amalgamated with helping the patient reconcile with her husband and open up to him about what she is currently facing.
References
Watson Caring Science Institute. (2022, June 20). Watson’s Caring Science & Theory. Watson Caring Science Institute. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.watsoncaringscience.org/jean-bio/caring-science-theory/
Wei, H., & Watson, J. (2019). Healthcare interprofessional team members’ perspectives on human caring: A directed content analysis study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 6(1), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.12.001
Wong , E., Mavondo , F., & Horvat , L. (2022). Healthcare professionals’ perspective on delivering personalized and holistic care: using the Theoretical Domains Framework. BMC Health Services Research, 22(281). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07630-1