Philosophy and Theory of Holism
Section snippets
Conceptual derivations
The term holism, as defined by Smuts, was derived from the Greek word holos, which means whole. Nevertheless, the concept is probably rooted in the ancient Indian Vedic culture that existed thousands of years ago. Their Sanskrit language word, sarvah, meaning whole, intact, or uninjured, was used to describe [5] the nature of the human being as an integral part of the universe. More specifically, the word sarvah means that when the physical form of the human being is instilled with an
Practice derivations
Just as the concept of holism is not new, neither is the practice of holistic health care. For example, the ancient Vedic system for caring for the sick provides the philosophic basis for the modern-day Ayurveda holistic healing system. This model, recognized by the National Institutes of Health2, is based on the belief that health problems occur when
Evolution of nursing philosophy
By the mid-1960s, several nurse leaders argued for systematic nursing based on the nurse-patient relationship [8] and for a science of nursing [9]. Using the reductionist model of medicine, in which the whole is the sum of the parts, graduate nursing programs were developed to help nurses learn how to become experts in a specific area of care. Most nurse experts were soon known by the part of the body, the type of problem, or the population they specialized in. Medical-surgical, psychiatric,
Emergence of holistic nursing
Although the social policy statement of the American Nurses Association (ANA) satisfied nurses who supported a wholistic model, many nurses felt disenfranchised. They continued to believe that the person, as an entity, cannot be broken down into parts or separated from the environment. They understood that people have organ systems but believed that nursing is concerned with the dynamic integration of all physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual components of the person.
Holism in the twenty-first century
Today, several disciplines, including physics, mathematics, science, philosophy, sociology, medicine, and nursing, support the view that the whole of an entity is more complex (or greater) than the sum of its parts. How this belief is applied varies with the discipline, however. For example, Greene [24], a quantum physicist, argues that all things in the universe are interconnected by energy particles, whereas theologists, such as Moore [25], address the interconnectedness and inseparability of
Summary
Historically, medicine addressed the treatment of sickness and diseases, whereas nurses focused on the person. Physicians used the basic sciences to help them understand how to treat the focus of their interest, whereas nurses used the art of nursing to comfort their patients and help to restore balance within the person and between the person and the environment. The nurse's goal was to create a healing environment so that nature could take its natural course and people could get well or die
Acknowledgments
Editorial assistance was provided by Geeta Erickson, MA, and graphics by Lance M. Erickson, MA.
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