[Nursing and the current situation of complementary treatments]

The present situation in nursing is one of a clear advance, as the result of the search which more and more nurses consider: a real end to nursing, "the treatments" to maintain health or to recuperate it. To this end, we should make use of all the useful methods available to us. We know that with a caress of our hands we loose endorphins which help reduce pain, that music relaxes us, that color illuminates our lives, that reflexology frees us from tensions, and that, definitely, we have available to us a large number of resources which offer relief and well-being to our patients without secondary efforts, and at a low cost. These supplementary non-specialized health treatments are taught in a non-systematic manner and an optional manner in Spanish nursing schools. Nursing professionals demonstrate great interest in alternative therapies and many nurses are specialists in some of these today. However, in spite of the fact that alternative therapies are included in current study programs, scientific production by Spanish nurses en these fields is scarce. The research and development guidelines published as priorities by the Carlos III Institute and by the European Health Committee do no reflect the study of these treatment methods in a specific manner; but we have the opportunity in our own hands to demonstrate by means of our own research the extent of the benefits which these therapies may provide.