Holistic/therapeutic nursing care

Abstract

There are a wide range of non-pharmacologically based techniques for helping to manage a child’s pain. These care strategies or techniques provide a rich ground for developing holistic care, spending time with the child and working in partnership with the child and their family. These approaches to the management of pain are diverse and sometimes difficult to define under a single heading — but they can all be part of a holistic, therapeutic approach to nursing the child. Many of the techniques can be taught or facilitated by nurses so that the child and/or their family can take over this aspect of their pain management. Despite the great rewards that can be achieved by using a variety of approaches in pain management the nurse must be aware of their responsibility to deliver safe and competent care to the child and their family. This means that the nurse must ensure that they have acquired the appropriate skills, knowledge and level of competence in respect to the differing strategies and that these strategies are supported by local policies. Accredited courses can be undertaken in therapies such as massage and aromatherapy and many ‘in-house’ courses are offered to ensure that the nurse has achieved an appropriate standard of practice in some of the other therapies. The introduction of standards of care for monitoring the usage of the various therapeutic approaches should be carefully considered. Nurses should not implement or be encouraged to implement practices that they are not prepared for but should be encouraged to develop and enhance their therapeutic skills and thus enhance their scope of practice. McMahon (1991) sees nursing as therapy and states that: