Perspectives: Advanced Holistic Nursing

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Florida Atlantic University

Personal Perspectives• Embrace caring as the essence of holistic nursing practice.

• Recognize and respect the balance of Spirit, Body, Mind.

• Honor the client as expert and co partner to explore patterns to promote well being.

• Ingenuity to create healing environments.

• Eagerness to competently blend best practices of allopathic and complementary approaches.

• Courage to be an innovator to fulfill your personal and professional hopes and dreams for the future of nursing.

Public Perspectives

• Changes in Health Care policy focus on wellness and prevention models of care to improve outcomes for chronic and acute care, cost containment, and access to care.

• Increasing trend in the number of Americans using some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for adult and child wellness.

• Major insurance plans reimburse wellness and preventive care and some CAM.

• The public relies on the nurse as a caring and trusted professional to guide, coach, and provide expert holistic nursing knowledge.

Professional Perspectives

• In 1981 the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) was formed and initiated the holistic nursing movement in the United States.

• In 2006, holistic nursing was recognized as an official specialty within nursing by the American Nurses Association (ANA).

• Nurses with specialized knowledge of holistic nursing will find opportunities as innovators in various settings to promote integrative health.

Professional Perspectives

• Certification by AANCC– http://www.ahncc.org/

• Students who earn a MSN in the holistic concentration are prepared to take the exam to be certified as Advanced Holistic Nurse, Board Certified (AHN-BC)

• Students who earn the Post Master Certificate (PMC) and are Nurse Practitioners are prepared to take the exam to be certified as Advanced Practice Holistic Nurse, Board Certified APRN (APRN, APHN-BC).

Future Perspectives

• The Future of Nursing : From the 2010 document published by Institute of Medicine in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

– Nurses should practice to the full extent of their educations and training.– Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through

an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.

– Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.

– Effective workforce planning and policy making better data collection and information infrastructure.

– The AHN Concentration will prepare you to meet these expectations.

We invite you to contact us to share your perspective of how you can become a part of this innovative concentration in Advanced Holistic Nursing.