Complementary and alternative therapies in critical care

Abstract

This is a time of fascinating transformation in the field of health care. Interest in and use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) is increasing at a dramatic rate in both the public and in health care institutions. This has important ramifications for critical care nursing. Critical care nurses are faced with patient and family demands for these therapies in critical care. Many CAT are being administered to critically ill patients in intensive care units and private nursing practices across the United States and Canada. So common is the use of some CAT that they are becoming part of mainstream nursing practice. Other therapies have promise but have not yet made their way into the mainstream. Critical care nurses are expressing interest in knowing more about CAT and are exploring opportunities to use them to the benefit of their patients. Despite these trends in interest and use, there are perceived barriers to the use of CAT for patients in critical care, and caution is indicated in the application of CAT for patients who are critically ill or who are receiving intensive pharmacologic therapy or other intensive life-saving interventions in the context of critical care. Many resources are available that describe how to implement the more common CAT with persons in a general sense. This issue of the Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America focuses on the use of CAT in critical care, providing an overview of CAT with particular emphasis on salient issues for their use with critically ill patients and their families. It also presents the results of a national survey describing nurses’ use of CAT in critical care and describes the personal use of CAT by critical care nurses.