Integrative health care: implications for nursing practice and education

The significance of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to contemporary health care is reflected in the relatively recent integrative health care (IHC) movement. Having emerged in response to the public's sustained use of CAM, IHC reflects the evolving needs and expectations of modern-day service users, making it consistent with today's culture of patient-responsive health care. IHC therefore carries important implications for nursing practice but, to fulfil their responsibilities with regard to these implications, nurses need a fundamental knowledge of CAM concepts as well as an understanding of the ways in which CAM and conventional health care might affect one another. An educational strategy that embeds IHC and makes explicit its relation to nursing practice is desirable if nurses are to engage with patients who use CAM. Evidence suggests, however, that neither CAM nor IHC are adequately represented in nursing curricula. This paper considers ways in which IHC could be incorporated into nursing curricula as a means to prepare nurses for this important challenge.