Abstract
Holistic medicine means consideration of the complete person, physically, psy-chologically, socially, and spiritually, in the management and prevention of dis-ease. These different states can be equally important. All healthcare practitioners should aspire towards a holistic approach to patients and attempt to practice it. Rec-ognizing the ‘whole’ person in the preven-tion and treatment of a disease may hold the key to some diagnoses for doctors. It may also allow valuable and important help and guidance to be given to the pa-tient. Patients tend to be more satisfied if a doctor takes a holistic approach, feeling that their doctor has time for them and their problems. In addition to a holistic approach, a team approach to a patient is also extremely important. There are three types of teams: a multidisciplinary, inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary team. Which team will be used depends on the possibility, knowledge and the patients’ needs. In a team approach the patient is the main focus and is thus the responsibil-ity of every member of the team. The team has a responsibility towards one another to have open communication channels and mutual respect for different professions. Each member of the team should know his or her own abilities and limitations. In many articles the outcomes of treatment with a team approach have been reported positively, with no reports of negative con-sequences of team intervention. Further-more, the use of a team approach has been demonstrated in all healthcare settings across the continuum. Forming a multidis-ciplinary team is only one aspect of provid-ing a multidisciplinary health care service. Developing systems and resources that ensure the team can function effectively is also essential.
Highlights
Knowledge that a man is more than a combination of body and soul has existed since time immemorial, but only in the last century has there been systematic discussion about this
Patients tend to be more satisfied if a doctor takes a holistic approach, feeling that their doctor has time for them and their problems
Hippocrates spoke about holistic medicine and [9], and a holistic approach is advocated by Percival in his book – the first textbook of medical ethics, published just in 1803
Summary
Knowledge that a man is more than a combination of body and soul has existed since time immemorial, but only in the last century has there been systematic discussion about this. The key sentence on this is: “Creating a whole, holistic tendency or holism, which is manifested in units composed of parts, can be seen at all stages of all that exists.” Considering that this idea of his was based more on philosophy than on science, it was ignored for decades. [3, 4] the term “holism” was coined by Jan Smuts in 1926, the concept of holism probably has its roots in ancient Indian Vedic culture (“veda” in Sanskrit means knowledge), which existed thousands of years ago. Put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.” She thought that touch, kindness and other measures of comfort, provided within the context of environment treatment, are of crucial importance for nursing. These nursing activities, known as ”the art of nursing”, represent the basis of professional nursing. [2] Nowadays different disciplines, such as physics, mathematics, science, philosophy, sociology, medicine, nursing, etc., supports the view that the integrity of an entity is much more complex and greater than the sum of their individual parts. [2]
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