Case Study of Holistic Nursing Practices in Context

Case Study of Holistic Nursing Practices in Context Introduction The nursing profession has been defined as a very personal and interactive profession (Yura and Walsh, 1998) and to deliver and provide good patient care many authors have suggested that individualised care ensures that the patient is viewed as a person and as an individual within a set of certain circumstances (Meleis, 1991). To ensure patients are viewed as an individual within a set of circumstances (Meleis, 1991) it is useful for nursing practitioners to adopt a holistic approach to care. Holistic nursing is defined as a process where the patients are not simply treated due to the physical symptoms of a disease or condition, but are considered as a whole and the the totality of the person being treated is explored to include: mental, emotional, spiritual, social, cultural, relational, contextual and environmental aspects (Mueller, 2010). This assignment will focus on a patient case study and will explore the nursing intervention, assessment and individualised care t he patient received. When presenting a patient case study it is essential to acknowledge the issues surrounding confidentiality. The Nursing and Midwifery Council state in the code of standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives (NMC, 2008a) that it is essential to ‘make the care of people your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity’ and this is an important consideration when writing an essay based on a case study. To ensure that this assignment complies with the Code of Professional Practice (NMC, 2008a) the author will ensure that client confidentiality will be maintained and respected throughout. To ensure that client confidentiality is upheld, the client selected for this assignment will only be referred to as Mrs P so that no personal identification or features of their care is highlighted; furthermore to ensure confidentiality is upheld, although this assignment case study has been selected from a client e ncountered by the author in clinical practice from their training and student development, no identifying hospital details, places of reference, names of service providers or dates of intervention will be supplied. Mrs P – A Clinical Case Study Mrs P is a 78 year old lady who currently lives alone in a centrally located council owned property in a town in the West Midlands. Mrs P was married in the 1950’s and her husband worked in an engineering factory until he had to retire due to ill health and he then unfortunately passed away in the mid 1990’s. Mrs P has lived alone since this time, moving in 2001 from their family home to a smaller council owned first floor flat. Mrs P was born in the West Midlands to an Irish father and English mother and she is the only surviving sibling of a family of six. Mrs P has two sons and a daughter, who unfortunately died from breast cancer, aged 56. Mrs P’s two sons who live locally. Mrs P left school age 14 and went to work as a cleaner in a factory; she left employment to raise her children but prior to this she worked in a munitions factory during the war. Mrs P did not work again once she was married and has had financial support through the governments benefit system and through a small private pension obtained through her husband’s company.