Holistic Nursing

In nursing, standards of care are held in high regard. Standards of care refer to the “set of guidelines based on evidence as to what is reasonable and prudent behavior for a health care professional” (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2015). The nurse, upon licensure, agrees to uphold the standards of care in order to assist patients and their families to adapt and cope with their illness. It order for the standards of care to maintained, it is essential that the nurse be able to function in a safe holistic manner that provides culturally sensitive and evidence-based information to the patient. The importance of the nurse to be able to function appropriately under the set guidelines of their degree and state license is significant. Quality of care along with infection control and decreased risk for adverse reactions depends upon the nurse to be able to function in way that is culturally competent, safe, and all encompassing. In nursing, the term culturally competent refers to the ability of the nurse to possess

The nurse’s ability to keep safety as a priority upon all interactions with the patient is essential in decreasing the risk for infection, medical errors, and adverse reaction to treatments and procedures (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2015). Safety, when looked at as a priority, also enhances patient outcomes. Holistic nursing is an important concept of nursing as it focuses on the patient as a whole rather than solely the disease process (Papathanasiou, Sklavou, & Kourkout, 2013). By allowing the patient to be treated in a way that incorporates the biological, psychosocial, emotional, and financial side of things, it improves the patient’s feelings of autonomy and “introduces a less one-dimensional approach to treating disease” (Papathanasiou, Sklavou, & Kourkout, 2013). With that being said, it is important for the nurse to function as intended under the degree earned and licensure earned to provide excellent