Registered Nurses' communication about patients' use of complementary therapies: A national survey

Exploring herbal remedy utilization for wound healing: Patterns, patient preferences, and implications for nursing practice

PURPOSE

The utilization of herbal remedies for wound healing is a notable aspect of traditional medicine practices. Understanding herbal use among patients yields insights for nursing care enhancement. This study aimed to investigate the utilization of herbal remedies for wound healing among diabetic patients.

METHODS

A total of 453 participants were enrolled, with demographic data, including age, sex, occupation, education level, residence, ethnic group, distance from health service, herbal use duration, and wound duration presented. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, including means, standard deviations, ranges, and percentages.

FINDINGS

The average participant age was 55.39 years, with most being non-civil servant workers (60.3%) and having a low education level (67.1%). Indian almond wood (9.7%) and green betel (6.8%) were the most commonly used herbs for wound healing. Family members were the primary source of information (29.1%), and 43.7% obtained herbs from personal gardens. Although 94.2% of participants did not disclose herbal use to health liaisons, 53.4% used herbs specifically for wound healing. Users reported both positive and negative effects on wounds from various herbs, indicating variability in experiences. However, the consistency of herb usage by individual patients was uncertain.

CONCLUSIONS

The study identified diverse herbal remedies used for wound healing among patients, driven by familial recommendations. Usage pattern diversity and effects signal necessity for researching herb safety and efficacy. Clarifying the impact of consistent herb usage on wound healing is essential for understanding patients' preferences and practices.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

These findings emphasize the importance of open communication between patients and healthcare providers regarding herbal remedy use. Nurses should acknowledge patients' preferences for traditional healing practices while ensuring they receive evidence-based care. Patient-centered herbal strategies enhance nursing practice, fostering holistic wound care. Further research can guide nursing interventions, facilitate informed decision-making, and improve patient outcomes.

Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) in Nursing Education in Spanish Universities

BACKGROUND

The use of complementary therapies in the general population is increasing, so it is necessary to understand the training that health professionals receive in this type of therapy in their training plans, as they are often the primary source of information for patients. Our aim was to investigate Spanish universities that offer subjects on complementary therapies in their nursing degree programs.

METHODS

This study is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. For this purpose, we used a document published on the website of the Ministry of Universities as the working document. Additionally, a literature search was conducted up to September 2023 in the PubMed database, along with reverse searches.

RESULTS

Out of a total of 62 universities, only 16 (29%) offer a subject related to this type of therapy, 27.5% (11) are public universities and 22.7% (5) are private universities, most of them being optional subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

The training content on complementary care in nursing degree programs in Spanish universities is scarce, highlighting the potential benefit of expanding and promoting it, in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

Exploring the gap: attitudes, knowledge, and training needs in complementary and integrative medicine among healthcare professionals at German university hospitals

Introduction

The use of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) is very popular among the general population in Germany. However, international studies show that nurses, physicians, and other health care professionals (HCPs) at hospitals often do not feel sufficiently informed about different CIM approaches. Moreover, they do not feel trained enough to counsel their patients appropriately. In the German-speaking context, particularly within university hospitals, research on this subject is scarce. Therefore, the aim of this explorative study was to evaluate attitudes, subjective knowledge, and needs regarding CIM among HCPs with direct patient interaction across all four university hospitals in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Tübingen, Ulm, Freiburg, Heidelberg).

Methods

The multicenter, cross-sectional, anonymous full survey was conducted online using a self-developed, semi-structured, web-based questionnaire. Recruitment took place via all-inclusive e-mail distribution lists of all four university hospitals.

Results

A total of n = 2,026 participants (response rate varied by location from about 5 to 14%) fully answered the questionnaire. Nurses constituted the largest professional group (n = 1,196; 59%), followed by physicians (n = 567; 28%), physiotherapists (n = 54), psychologists (n = 48), midwives (n = 37), and other professions (n = 124). More than two-thirds (71%, n = 1,437) of the participants were female and 14% (n = 286) reported additional training in CIM. The overall attitude toward CIM (10-point Likert scale, 10 = "very favorable") was clearly positive (M ± SD: 7.43 ± 2.33), with notable differences between professional groups: midwives (9.05 ± 1.18), physiotherapists (8.44 ± 1.74), and nurses (8.08 ± 1.95) expressed the highest support, whereas physicians (5.80 ± 2.39) the lowest. 42% of the participants incorporated CIM in patient care (from 33% of physicians to 86% of midwives). Overall, relaxation therapy (n = 1,951; 96%), external applications (n = 1,911; 94%), massage (n = 1,836; 91%), and meditation/mindfulness (n = 1,812; 89%) were rated as useful or rather useful for patients. The average self-assessed knowledge level about CIM was moderate (M ± SD: 5.83 ± 2.03). Most of the participants found CIM training at university hospitals important and saw research about CIM as one of the tasks of university hospitals. The participants expressed the highest interest in education for acupuncture/acupressure, relaxation therapies, and manual medicine.

Discussion

This comprehensive survey of health care professionals (HCPs) at university hospitals in Germany reveals a clearly positive disposition toward CIM, aligning with findings from other hospital-based surveys and highlighting differences among professional groups. While most therapies deemed beneficial for patient care are supported by positive evidence, further research is required for others. Given the average self-reported knowledge of CIM, targeted education is essential to meet the needs of both HCPs and patients and to ensure the provision of evidence-based information on the risks and benefits of CIM.

Exploring primary care physician feedback following an integrative oncology consultation

OBJECTIVE

To explore responses from primary care physicians (PCPs) from an integrative physician (IP) consultation and recommended integrative oncology (IO) treatment program.

METHODS

Chemotherapy-treated patients were referred by their oncology healthcare professional to an IP, a physician dually trained in complementary medicine and supportive cancer care. The consultation summary and patient-centered IO treatment program was then sent to the patient's PCP, with PCP-to-IP responses analyzed qualitatively using ATLAS.Ti software for systematic coding and content analysis. Trial Registration Number NCT01860365 published May 22, 2013.

RESULTS

Of the 597 IP consultations conducted, 470 (78.7%) summaries were sent to patients' PCPs, with only 69 (14.7%) PCP-to-IP responses returned. PCPs were more likely to respond if the patient was Hebrew-speaking (78.3% vs. 65.1%, P = 0.032). Systematic coding identified four predominant themes among PCP narratives: addressing the patient's medical condition and leading QoL-related concerns; patient-centered reflections; available resources providing support and promoting resilience; and PCP attitudes to the IO treatment program.

CONCLUSION

PCP-IP communication can provide valuable insight into the patient's bio-psycho-social care, addressing the patient's health-belief model, emotional concerns, caregiver-related factors, preferences, and barriers to adherence to IO care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Healthcare services should consider promoting IP-PCP communication in order to facilitate better patient outcomes from an IO treatment program.

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Pediatric Respiratory Diseases

In this study, our purpose was to determine prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in pediatric respiratory diseases and methods of CAM use accordingly. Each of the CAM treatment has a special risk/benefit combination and it is absolutely crucial for health care professionals to question those methods.

Evaluating Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms Coverage of Complementary and Integrative Health Therapy Approaches Used Within Integrative Nursing, Health, and Medicine

The use of complementary and integrative health therapy strategies for a wide variety of health conditions is increasing and is rapidly becoming mainstream. However, little is known about how or if complementary and integrative health therapies are represented in the EHR. Standardized terminologies provide an organizing structure for health information that enable EHR representation and support shareable and comparable data; which may contribute to increased understanding of which therapies are being used for whom and for what purposes. Use of standardized terminologies is recommended for interoperable clinical data to support sharable, comparable data to enable the use of complementary and integrative health therapies and to enable research on outcomes. In this study, complementary and integrative health therapy terms were extracted from multiple sources and organized using the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and former National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine classification structures. A total of 1209 complementary and integrative health therapy terms were extracted. After removing duplicates, the final term list was generated via expert consensus. The final list included 578 terms, and these terms were mapped to Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms. Of the 578, approximately half (48.1%) were found within Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms. Levels of specificity of terms differed between National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine classification structures and Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms. Future studies should focus on the terms not mapped to Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (51.9%), to formally submit terms for inclusion in Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms, toward leveraging the data generated by use of these terms to determine associations among treatments and outcomes.

Nursing - a core element of rehabilitation

AIM

2020 was been acknowledged by the World Health Organization as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. On this occasion, the Global Rehabilitation Alliance and the International Council of Nurse would like to conceptually reflect the role of nurses in rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND

Rehabilitation and nursing are strictly ingrained. Rehabilitation aims at improving, reaching and maintaining optimal functioning of persons with disability and persons with health conditions experiencing disability. Nursing is defined as use of clinical judgement in the provision of care to enable people to improve, maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems, and to achieve the best possible quality of life. Nursing has a crucial role in all phases of rehabilitation care (acute, post-acute and long-term rehabilitation). Nurses deliver rehabilitation in many settings, in nursing homes and community-based rehabilitation. The main principle is not to deliver care for the patient but deliver care with the patient. This includes explaining, demonstrating and practising with the goal to help the patient to (re-)gain independence.

DISCUSSION

Nurses play an important role in delivering rehabilitation and are involved in all aspects of the multidimensional rehabilitation process. One of the important points is that in most settings, nurses are the professionals with a prolonged relationship with patients and families, and may have the best insight into the patients' personal and contextual factors with regard to the rehabilitation process.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND/OR HEALTH POLICY

Strengthening nursing in rehabilitation is a vital factor to deliver high-quality rehabilitation and to achieve optimum outcomes. For this reason, we urge all relevant stakeholders at governmental and rehabilitation service provider levels to work towards these goals.

Complementary and integrative therapies in the scope of nursing: legal aspects and academic-assistance panorama

ABSTRACT Objective: to carry out a documentary study on the legal aspects that support the nurses' performance in the Integrative and Complementary Practices (PIC) and to discuss the panorama of teaching, research, extension and nursing activities in front of PICs. Method: documentary study, whose units of analysis were normative, guidelines, recommendations and clarification notes (n = 17). The data were organized into two categories: "Legal aspects of nurses' performance in ICP and acupuncture" and "Overview of the use of ICPs by nursing in the areas of teaching, research, extension and assistance activities". Results: nurses stand out in the implementation of PIC since the principles of training are congruent to the paradigms of this science, besides having legal support for acting in public and private services in Brazil. There is an incipient movement of nurses working in research and extension in universities, which contributes to the diffusion of knowledge and application of therapies in the community. Conclusion: the institutionalization of PICs in the Unified Health System has increased access and contributed to the provision of comprehensive and multidisciplinary health services. Implications for practice: with ICPs, nurses have achieved autonomy and the possibility of expanding their performance, aiming at a better quality of care.