Respond to the discussion post below: “Complementary and Alternative Care Comple

Respond to the discussion post below:
“Complementary and Alternative Care
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches to care are divergent modalities and/or products with origins outside of conventional Westernized medicine and per the CDC encompass acupuncture, Aruyveda, biofeedback, chelation therapy, specialized diets, Reiki (and other energy healing treatments), guided imagery, hypnosis, chiropractic, naturopathy, traditional folk healers, non-vitamin/mineral supplementation, relaxation, meditation, art, music, qi gong, tai chi, and yoga (Clarke et al., 2018). The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) published a CAM trend report in 2012 and tracked changes in 2017 on the use of yoga, meditation and chiropractors by American adults which demonstrated an increase in US adults engaging in yoga related activities from 9.5% to 14.3% within the five-year interval. In Europe, of eight countries studied, CAM utilization was highest in France and Germany (Fjær et al., 2020)
One of the driving forces in the growing interest of CAM integration with standard medicine is the opioid crisis (Weeks, 2018). The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine committee statement on pain management and the opioid epidemic plea for public health and legislative leaders to pledge investments in non-additive alternatives to pain treatment (Bonnie et al., 2017).
Investigation into nurse perceptions of CAM in pain management reveal 85% of survey respondents approve of CAM for the treatment of discomfort, but in contrast 32% of nurses reported CAM methods implemented in practice (Brewer et al., 2019). These findings may reflect a natural partiality and receptiveness to interventions other than those within the biomedical sphere as well as the philosophical underpinnings of the nursing profession.
The America Nurses Association (ANA) recognized holistic nursing as a distinct nursing specialty since 2006. Originally founded in 1981, the organization’s core mission is to promote the provision of care with harmonization of all facets of the individual: mind, body, and spirit (American Holistic Nurses Association [AHNA], 2022). Furthermore, the American Holistic Nurses Association is a voice to advocate for policy, education, and research.
The American Holistic Nurses Credentialing Corporation (AHNCC) is the certifying arm of the AHNA requesting discrete acknowledgement in the APRN consensus model. Their position statement points to the implications of the Affordable Care Act, physician shortages and rising numbers of elderly to substantiate the necessity for advanced practice holistic nurses to foster healing, restoration, illness prevention and wellness in an era of escalating healthcare costs due to expanding elevated risk comorbid populations (American Holistc Nurses Credentialing Corporation [AHNCC], 2015). The basic tenets of holistic nursing support syncretism of traditional medical science with interventions impacting both intrinsic and external individual factors influencing health and illness responses such as sleep, nutrition, and stress. Given poor healthcare outcomes despite trillions in spending, it is imperative to contemplate substitutions for over medicalized care pathways.
Integrated health, a combination of conventional medicine and CAM is emerging in academic centers due to the surging demand for alternative treatment measures. It has become widely accepted in oncology as evidence shows up to 85% of oncology patients use at least one form of CAM, often underreported. Cancer related pain is a malady requiring exclusive attention with negative consequences on quality of life, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance resulting from malignancy or therapy side effects. A systematic review of the literature investigated the number and quality of clinical practice guidelines available for CAM in the management of cancer related pain and found variability suggesting opportunity for continued future research (Ng & Sharma, 2020). In addition, decision aid development and employment can facilitate communication and patient sense of autonomy when deliberating CAM use during chemotherapy (Chong et al., 2020).
As contemporary health systems highlight patient centered care, there is an ethical mandate by general practitioners to offer and/or refer CAM therapies from the perspective of patient right to autonomy and beneficence as well as have a degree of familiarity with CAM specific evidence (Roberts et al., 2017). Pilot educational programs blending interprofessional collaboration between “mainstream” medical, nursing, and allied health with complementary therapy experts yielded positive experiences within a space of mutual respect and learning demonstrating fusion-treatment models are possible (Kutt et al., 2019).
Complementary and alternative medicine expenditures in the US are an estimated at $30 billion annually with exponential increases predicted. Patients will begin to openly discuss their experiences with CAM with advanced practice clinicians as we provide leverage for a dwindling physician workforce with nurse practitioners and physicians assistants expressing interest for more CAM competencies (Bauer et al., 2020). Advanced practice nurses can play a crucial role in the amalgamation of customary medical methods and complete whole being care models aligned with the intended mission of our vocation.