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By
Valerie
J. Nelson A national exam that will enable nurses to become certified in holistic nursing is getting a final critical review by several RNs who already have earned the right to use "HNC" after their names. The first national exam is expected to be administered this spring, four years after the first certificate was granted, according to the American Holistic Nurses’ Certification Corp. Interest in holistic nursing—which treats the spirit as well as the body—is growing, according to the Flagstaff, Arizona-based certification corporation. In December, 45 people applied for certification, compared to 75 over the previous three years. "Nationally, there is a real interest and drive to expand the parameters of health education to get into holistic curriculum," said Jane Yetter Lunt, MEd, RN, HNC, core faculty program director and one of the founders of the certificate program in holistic nursing for the American Holistic Nursing Association. More educational opportunities are available because "the public has shown its interest" in holism, she said. Connecting with clients Managed care, with its perceived emphasis on quantity over quality, is waking up care providers and their "clients"—as holistic practitioners refer to their patients—to the contributions that a holistic approach can bring to health care, said Lucia Thornton, MSN, RN, HNC, executive director of the certification corporation. "Most nurses went into nursing to help people," Thornton said. "The way health care is now, it’s not affording them that opportunity. Holistic nursing helps nurses reconnect with the meaning of nursing." It’s also spreading to overall medicine as well. The National Institutes of Health has $12 million in its budget to fund the 4-year-old Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the Council for Scientific Medicine has just published the first issue of The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, a semiannual journal dedicated to testing the claims of alternative approaches. The certification corporation receives calls from businesses and institutions interested in learning about and teaching their employees about holism, as well as calls from nurses themselves, said Whitney Zack, administrative assistant for the corporation. "My day is filled with nurses who want to do this thing called ‘holistic nursing,’ " she said. "They call and say, ‘I’m so glad I found you. I’m burned out, but I want to come into this field.’ " Test of determination Currently, nurses become certified in holistic nursing through a "portfolio process." Nurses can take a four-phase certificate program and submit a portfolio that shows evidence of their work in the field, including practicing holistic nursing at least eight hours a week for six months or more. Those who have practiced holistic nursing for a number of years are eligible to apply for the certification until April 1 without taking the four-phase program. But the portfolio requirements are stricter, requiring that 180 hours of advanced study in holistic nursing have been completed within five years of applying for the designation. As of Dec. 15, 1999, the only way to become certified will be by meeting certain requirements and passing the national exam. The National League for Nursing (NLN), is writing the test, which started out with 300 questions and is being pared down to about 200, said Veronica Phillips-Arikian, MA, RN, director of assessment and evaluation for the NLN. The test is expected to take two to three hours. "The actual experts in holistic nursing developed the test," Phillips-Arikian said. "They really wanted to make sure nurses certified were making good judgments and using holistic-based assessment skills and know how to use these techniques in practice." A worthwhile credential Denise Nugent, RN, HNC, said she wanted the credentials "that go with being a holistic nurse" and cried when she received her holistic certification in 1995, just as she did when she found out she had earned her RN license. "It was that big a deal to me." Nugent has a private practice in Foster City, California, where she teaches people such techniques as stress management and reflexology. She said the educational process was "one of the most life-changing experiences" she has gone through. "It really taught me a lot about myself," she said. "It taught me a lot about nursing. It taught me that there is a lot more to us than I even learned in nursing books or nursing schools or working in a hospital setting as an oncology nurse." It is this attitude of nurses searching for something more meaningful in an era of cost-cutting and HMOs that is going to drive nurses to get their HNC, Thornton said. That, coupled with patients who are seeking more caring environments, will lead the number of holistic practitioners to "snowball," she said. "The HMOs and the people who are trying to cut healthcare costs are going to see the value of employing the HNC credential," Thornton said. "They know there is an element of care they deliver that may not be present without it." |
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RELATED WEB SITES ABC News special report on natural healthcare The Alternative Medicine Home Page from the Falk Library of the Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania America Holistic Nurses' Association Directory of Databases: Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York National Council Against Health Fraud Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health |
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