Holistic nursing combines standard nursing interventions with various modalities that are focused on treating the patient in totality. Alternative therapies can include stress management, aroma therapy, and therapeutic touch. The combination of interventions allows the patient to heal in mind, body, and spirit by focusing on the patient's emotions, spirituality, and cultural identity as much as the illness. The six steps of the holistic caring process occur simultaneously, including assessment, diagnosis, outcomes, and therapeutic plan of care, implementation, and evaluation. The holistic assessment of the patient can include spiritual, transpersonal, and energy-field assessments in combination with the standard assessments, such as physical and emotional assessments. The therapeutic plan of care in holistic nursing includes a highly individualized and unique plan for each patient. Holistic nurses recognize that the plan of care will change based on the individual patient, and therefore, embrace healing as a process that is always changing and adapting to the individual's personal healing journey. Therapies utilized by holistic nurses include stress management techniques and alternative or complementary practices such as reiki and guided imagery. These therapy modalities are focused on empowering individual to reduce stress levels and elicit a relaxation response in order to promote healing and well-being.
