Week 3 - Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Week 3: Paper #1 Due

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming increasingly common in the United States and the rest of the western world. Most of nursing education in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia—often referred to as Western countries—has been under the umbrella of biomedicine, and thus Western nurses are familiar and comfortable with its beliefs, theories, practices, strengths, and limitations. Fewer nurses have studied alternative medical theories and practices and as a result may lack information or even harbor misinformation about these healing practices. Unlike the profession of medicine in general, however, the profession of nursing has traditionally embraced two basic concepts embodied by alternative therapies—holism and humanism—in its approach with clients. Your assignment is to write a 2-3 page paper discussing how nurses can incorporate alternative medicine into a holistic approach to patient care. Please use references within the last 5 years and submit the work in APA format.