Holistic and team approach in health care

Abstract

Holistic medicine means consideration of the complete person, physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually, in the management and prevention of disease. These different states can be equally important. All healthcare practitioners should aspire towards a holistic approach to patients and attempt to practice it. Recognizing the 'whole' person in the prevention and treatment of a disease may hold the key to some diagnoses for doctors. It may also allow valuable and important help and guidance to be given to the patient. Patients tend to be more satisfied if a doctor takes a holistic approach, feeling that their doctor has time for them and their problems. In addition to a holistic approach, a team approach to a patient is also extremely important. There are three types of teams: a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary team. Which team will be used depends on the possibility, knowledge and the patients' needs. In a team approach the patient is the main focus and is thus the responsibility of every member of the team. The team has a responsibility towards one another to have open communication channels and mutual respect for different professions. Each member of the team should know his or her own abilities and limitations. In many articles the outcomes of treatment with a team approach have been reported positively, with no reports of negative consequences of team intervention. Furthermore, the use of a team approach has been demonstrated in all healthcare settings across the continuum. Forming a multidisciplinary team is only one aspect of providing a multidisciplinary health care service. Developing systems and resources that ensure the team can function effectively is also essential.

Holistic nursing competence scale: Turkish translation and psychometric testing

“…A nurse who follows the holistic approach considers the uniqueness of each person and respects their personal beliefs and values. While following the holistic approach, a nurse considers the individual's social support resources, health practices, experiences related to their personal and family health, their disease patterns, personality traits, social and cultural characteristics, and nutrition habits, their ways of stress management, and life habits such as rest and exercise (AHNA 2015;Huljev & Pandak 2016;Mariona 2016;Papathanasiou et al 2013). The positive effects of following a holistic approach have been observed on the nurses, healthcare teams, provision of health care and institutions as described in various previous studies.…”

Practitioners’ Awareness of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practices within Interprofessional Healthcare Teams in Institutions

“…Also, for any practitioners expressing financial concerns over CAM, they are not aware that cost-efficient CAM services such as MT are available. These concerns expressed by the participants in this study accompanied by their lack of CAM knowledge are supported in the literature to date as an argument for why IDHTs are not easily established in institutions (Huljev & Pandak, 2016;Leipzig, Hyer, & Ek, 2002;O'Brien, Martin, & Heyworth, 2009). The aforementioned reasons further exemplify the need for IDHTs consisting of physicians and non-physician practitioner counterparts to work together along with CAM practitioners.…”

“…Interdisciplinary collaboration is the trend in healthcare and, to this extent, cooperative approaches among CAM and allopathic practitioners to provide a holistic approach to patient care is essential, further improving patient outcomes (Huljev & Pandak, 2016;Mahdizadeh, Heydari, & Moonaghi, 2015). Practitioners need to become aware of and/or more accepting of CAM practices because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provides reimbursement and encourages the use of strategies such as MT in patient care (ACA, 2013;CWF, 2013;HCR, 2017;OPC, 2015).…”

Patients' perspectives on care pathways and informed shared decision making in the transition between psychiatric hospitalization and the community

“…Indeed, a holistic approach is necessary in order to decrease the number and length of admissions, that is, proper consideration should be given to the patient's full and diverse life and not simply be limited to their status of having mental health challenges. Practitioners should aspire towards this holistic approach . Updating individual plans negotiated with patients should reflect such as approach.…”