What is an integrative nurse?

Integrative therapy is rising in the medical field. Why? Because patients are demanding complementary treatments along with traditional medicine. Most of the integrative therapies in use are thousands of years old. Research is growing each day to support these therapies. However, integrative nursing strives for evidence-informed research. What does the mean? It means the therapy you choose may not have extensive research behind it, however, the therapy will do no harm. Large research studies are expensive, most integrative therapies use common active ingredients that cannot be patented, which takes away the monetary rewards of promoting the therapy.

However, nursing is stepping up, as usual, to learn, use, and study many categories and types of integrative therapies. Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer & Dr. Mary Koithan are leaders in promoting integrative nursing and the treatments. Their book, Integrative Nursing first appeared in 2014. Now, in 2019 the second edition is available. A second edition in 5 years shows the rapid pace integrative nursing is growing. Optimal Healing Environment (OHE) was developed in 2009 by Krietzer & Zborowsky. They said an OHE is created by understanding the deep connections between people, environment, culture and mind/body/spirit. Integrative nurses understand that all dis-ease intersects with the mind/body/spirit of every individual.

“Integratively trained nurses will be key players in healthcare systems of the future” (Weil, 2018). Nursing programs like the University of Arizona are training their undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate nurses the theory and application of integrative nursing. Hospitals around the country are creating Optimal Healing Environments for patients and staff around the country.

References

Krietzer, M. J. & Zborowsky, T. (2009). Creating optimal healing environments. In M. Snyder & R. Lindquist (Eds.), Complementary & alternative therapies in nursing (6th ed., pp.321-330). New York: Springer.

Weil, A. (2018). Forward. In M. J. Krietzer & M. Koithan (Eds), Integrative nursing (2nd ed., pg xi)