Nurse & Patient, Alternative & Complementary Medicine, General & Miscellaneous - Nursing

Complementary/alternative Therapies in Nursing

Name: Complementary/alternative Therapies in Nursing
Author: Mariah Snyder
ISBN: 9780826114464

by Snyder, Mariah, Lindquist, Ruth

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Overview

A very sober and systematic approach to a wide range of alternative therapies, which can be used by nurses independently of other health care practitioners (i.e. they don't need a doctor's ok to go ahead and use). Standardized chapter format -- each therapy is defined, current research on topic is reviewed, uses and techniques are described, followed by precautions and a list of questions for further research.

About the Author, Mariah Snyder

Mariah Snyder PhD, RN, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. Her professional career has included teaching courses on complementary therapies, conducting research on the use of complementary therapies in persons with dementia and managing stress in persons with chronic illnesses, and assisting international nurses to incorporate complementary therapies in practice and education. Dr. Snyder was a founding member of the Center for Spirituality and Healing in the Academic Health Center and was a primary contributor to the development of its interdisciplinary minor—the first such minor in the United States. Her retirement activities include using complementary therapies in women with addictions and who are imprisoned, and assisting with developing the library at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, MN, a college preparatory school for students from economically poor families.

Ruth Lindquist, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, FAAN, FAHA is a Professor in the School of Nursing, and faculty member of the Center for Spirituality and Healing in the Academic Health Center of the University of Minnesota. She is a research consultant for the Women's Heart Health Program of the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Her research as a Densford Scholar in the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership focused on critical care nurses' attitudes toward and use of complementary/alternative therapies. Her recent research focuses on cardiovascular patient response to the use of therapies in the context of hospitalization with acute cardiac conditions, and the use of complementary therapies, exercise, and cardiac support groups to reduce stress and improve quality of life of women with heart disease.

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Editorials

From The Critics

Reviewer: Martha J. Greenberg, PhD, RN(Pace University)
Description: This book provides beginning knowledge about specific complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. Two decades after publication of the first edition, then titled Independent Nursing Interventions, the editors have compiled the most frequently used CAM therapies used by nurses from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine list of therapies. Emphasizing a research base to guide nursing practice, topics include mind-body therapies such as imagery, music, humor; energy therapies including therapeutic touch, reike; manipulative therapies such as massage; biological based therapies such as aromatherapy, herbals; and, lastly lifestyle-disease prevention therapies including progressive muscle relaxation, exercise.
Purpose: Since nursing has a history of using and researching complementary therapies and consumer interest or demand for holistic approaches continues to grow, this book aims to inform nurses about CAM. Providing in-depth beginning information about specific therapies, this book will help nurses integrate CAM in disease prevention, health promotion, and symptom management.
Audience: Aimed at undergraduate and graduate nursing students and practicing nurses, this book is also very appropriate for students and practitioners in other health related disciplines who are interested in and/or practice CAM. Readers particularly interested in the scientific basis, techniques, use of select therapies in specific patient populations, and nursing research will delight in this book.
Features: Included in this new edition are chapters on aromatherapy, yoga, accupressure, and herbal therapies. The chapters on aromatherapy, healing touch, massage, and prayer are particularly well covered given the somewhat abbreviated length of the book. Use of a consistent format throughout the book helps readers. Each chapter conforms to a template of information presented in similar order and includes definition of the therapy, scientific basis, intervention with assessment, techniques, and outcomes measurement, uses, precautions, and future research. Extensive references including Internet sites and areas for additional research and knowlege end each chapter and enhance the usefulness and evidence-based practice thrust of the text.
Assessment: This book is an excellent timely update of its pioneering ancestor and is an outstanding introductory book offering novices to CAM beginning prinicples and experts updated content.

4 Stars! from Doody