Nurses must back patient choice on integrated health

Nurse training needs to recognise that patients are increasingly using both conventional and complementary medicine, the conference heard.

Dame Donna Kinnair, a Foundation Fellow and director of nursing at Southwark Primary Care Trust, said developments in medical science had allowed health professionals to investigate diseased organs in ever-greater detail – but risked losing sight of the actual patient.

The high-pressure environment of the NHS added to the problem, she said. ‘In a rushed world, with 18 week waiting time targets, the thing that has receded is the patient’s own story.’

The body was increasingly regarded as ‘a mechanical object’ – the heart as a pump, limbs, bone and muscle as scaffolding, she commented.

‘We should not be surprised [then] that patients turn to integrated care that asserts their rights and their identity, that alleviates the symptoms that bother them.’

Hostility to integrated healthcare was putting patients at risk, Dame Donna added. ‘The danger today is our patients fail to tell us about their other care as we have become too polarised in our views.’

She called on universities to educate nurses about complementary medicine, so they can support patients’ own choices and help them to stay safe.

They ‘need to change the curriculum to include homeopathy, acupuncture and much more’.

Dame Donna recounted how it was ‘difficult to know what the fuss was about’ with regard to patients using complementary medicine. ‘It is part of my Caribbean heritage.’

She explained that her father used traditional herbs to control his asthma. ‘I don’t know what dandelion tea did for him but I have no hesitation in supporting it.’

What’s more, her experience as a nurse underlined the benefits of an integrated approach.

‘I have seen many patients who use integrated care alongside conventional therapy and they look better for it!’

Patients are entitled to choose the kind of treatments that suit them and to expect healthcare professionals to support that choice, she added.

‘What do patients want? High quality care, respect and dignity,’ she added. ‘And the right to make their own decisions about their own health and healthcare.’