Introduction: Synopsis and Theme In “A Patient’s Story,” Kenneth Schwartz provides a personal biopsychosocial narrative about his experiences undergoing treatment for cancer. Himself a physician, Schwartz finds himself adopting a new role as patient, seeing for the first time in his career the medical system from the patient’s point of view. The healthcare system that he had for so long contributed to as a doctor seemed suddenly limited, painfully bereft of the human factors that Schwartz claims would have enhanced his healing process.

Factors Schwartz never considered relevant or meaningful within the realm of healthcare service delivery—from eye contact and touch to the use of prayer—suddenly became central to his ability to build psychological and spiritual resilience during the toughest times of his life. Some nurses were “cool and brusque,” which promoted the already intense feelings of agitation, apprehension, anger, and fear burgeoning within Schwartz and his family members (p. 2). Other nurses offered him the opposite: brief moments of genuine kindness expressed through simple gestures and acts of kindness. Some of Schwartz’s needs were also fulfilled by small changes to the healthcare environment.

Schwartz had access to the best doctors and the best treatments available, thanks not only to his own professional stature but also to his family and colleague connections in oncology. Yet no amount of money or resources could substitute for the holistic treatment that Schwartz truly needed. The primary theme of “A Patient’s Story” is the importance of patient-centered care. Schwarz’s story also shows how healing is not just about elimination of disease. Healing is about cultivating the mental, emotional, and spiritual mindset conducive to wellbeing, transcending physical health status. It is about promoting a culture of healing among nurses and other healthcare workers, so that all patients feel safe, supported, and empowered. For some patients, healing will include the proximity to loved ones; to others it will entail specific religious practices. Regardless of the patient’s background or spiritual orientation, holistic patient-centered care can address the critical gaps in quality of service.

Statement on Complementary and Holistic Care

Schwartz’s narrative illustrates some of the key issues in complementary, holistic, and patient-centered care. Based on the Schwartz biopsychosocial narrative, nurses can learn how to improve communication with patients, how to create a patient-centered...

Holistic care can, but does not necessarily have to, include access to the patient’s preferred spiritual resources including people, books, music, or items that help them to pray or meditate. Within the holistic, patient-centered model, nurses listen actively to patient needs and shift the focus from the disease to holistic healing. Schwartz’s story is one of many that have stimulated discussions on how to improve service delivery in the contemporary healthcare institution.
Research

Research on holistic, complementary, and patient-centered care substantiates what Schwartz points out in his narrative. For example, Gallison & Kester (2018) claim that holistic nursing practice has become an “increasingly important aspect of today’s healthcare delivery system,” (p. 181). Holistic nursing practice is further defined as “creating supportive, caring environments for both staff and patients,” thereby implying the strong role that nurse leadership plays in fostering a patient-centered model (Gallison & Kester, 2018, p. 181). Nurse education also needs to uphold the tenets of holistic care, embedding the principles of complementary and patient-centered care practices into core curriculum. A survey of hundreds of nursing books used in certified nurse training and education showed that while many textbooks included some mention of spirituality and religion, the subject was marginalized and treated as ancillary to the general practice of the profession (Timmins, Murphy, Neill, et al., 2015). Likewise, Booth & Kaylor (2018) found that nurses are “unprepared to meet the spiritual needs of patients,” and are “often uncomfortable” addressing matters related to patient spirituality or complementary care needs (p. 177). If nurse leaders truly intend to address the shortfalls of their profession vis-a-vis the Schwartz narrative, they need to centralize holistic care and show how holistic care is actually the crux of all patient-centered care.

To properly incorporate holistic care into nurse education and nursing practice, or to make holistic care a comprehensive component in organizational policy, it is essential to define what holistic care is. Nurses can offer operationalized definitions that help dispel myths and clarify concerns for their colleagues. For example, Booth & Kaylor (2018) define holistic care as embracing the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of the patient as well as…