Holistic Health Care Research Articles

Establishing an indigenous and transpersonal therapies alliance to promote holistic and pluralistic mental health practice

The aim of this article is to provide a new synthesis of how the establishment of an Indigenous and Transpersonal Therapies Alliance (ITTA) can promote the value and effectiveness of holistic and pluralistic mental health care and therapeutic practice. It first examines the impact of therapies privileging a Western humanist perspective, while proposing the historical and cultural root of the problem; then clarifies what the visible limitations are when a belief in philosophical and cultural humanism is not adhered to. This will be followed by demonstrating the strengths and benefits of integrating transpersonal and indigenous perspectives into a framework of understanding of what it means to be human. Recommendations for active steps towards actualising the goal of establishing an indigenous and transpersonal therapies alliance to promote holistic and pluralistic mental health practice will be provided.

Self-Caring Practices Among Nurses: Findings From an Online Survey.

Faith community nurses receive additional education in holistic health and intentional spiritual care, including self-caring. This study used an online survey to explore self-caring practices of faith community nurses and clinical nurses. Despite sample limitations, faith community nurses reported significantly higher levels of self-caring practices than clinical nurses.

Enhancing Patient Outcomes through Innovative Hospital Management Practices

Objective: This study aims to explore and analyze the innovations in hospital management that have emerged in response to the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. The focus is on technological advancements, human resource optimization, and patient-centered care strategies that enhance operational efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify and synthesize relevant studies on hospital management innovations. The review covered a broad range of sources, including peer-reviewed journals, conference papers, and industry reports. Key themes were identified and categorized into technological innovations, organizational reforms, process improvements, and patient-centered care strategies. Results: The review highlights several significant innovations in hospital management. Technological advancements, such as the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), telemedicine, and artificial intelligence (AI), have streamlined administrative processes and improved data-driven decision-making. Organizational reforms, including team-based care models and leadership strategies that prioritize employee engagement, have enhanced staff productivity and patient care quality. Patient-centered care innovations, such as care coordination frameworks and patient engagement technologies, have led to more holistic and personalized healthcare delivery. Conclusion: The study concludes that continuous innovation in hospital management is crucial for addressing the challenges of modern healthcare. The integration of technology, effective human resource management, and patient-centered care strategies are key to improving hospital operations and patient outcomes. Future research should focus on overcoming barriers to innovation implementation, such as resistance to change, financial constraints, and interoperability issues, to ensure the successful adoption of these advancements.

I Cannot Treat Stupidity: The Function of Divination in Planning and Managing Life Crisis within the Dagbong Traditional Society in Northern Ghana

Diviners play key roles in deciding individuals’ decision-making processes among the indigenous peoples of Africa and in many other parts of the world. One key decision that people make has to do with the pursuance of good health. The purpose of this study was to explore the common types of diviner practices undertaken by the Dagomba, identify disease causative agent among Dagomba, and explore the rationale behind the practice of divination. The goal of this paper was to explore the function of divination in planning and resolving life crises within traditional Dagbon communities in Ghana. The investigation was guided by Rational Choice theory. In all, a total of 73 participants were sampled using snowball and purposive sampling techniques for both the in-depth interviews (33) and focus group discussions (40). The in-depth interviews included 25 diviners chosen from 5 communities in Yendi Municipality and its surrounding communities including 8 health workers, while 40 community members selected from the 5 communities (8 members per community)—both male and female—participated in the focus group discussions. Structured observation was also employed to gather additional information to supplement the data collected through other methods. Responses were captured using tape recorder (field notes were also taken) and afterwards transcribed and coded. Analysis was performed using thematic content analysis. The study discovered various types of diviner practices among Dagomba. It also found that most people use divination as diagnostic tool to determine the cause of ailments and diviners play important role in determining the cause and management of illnesses in the study communities. It was further established that most patients combined both divination and allopathic medicine in seeking answers to their health problems. This is due to their conviction that many ailments have both spiritual and physical elements that must be attended to concurrently. It was further discovered that certain disorders and illnesses necessarily require diviner consultation in order to decide the best course(s) of action to cure or prevent it from getting exacerbated. However, some of the diviners indicated their inability to treat all maladies, stating for example that they could not treat ignorance and stupidity. Soothsaying, Afa/Mallam, Jinwariba, Gbanigba consultations among others, are among the common diviner services regularly patronized by traditional Dagbon communities, according to the study. Going by these world views, the indigenous Dagomba person sees the practice of divination as a vehicle they can use to confront life crises, hence our study recommends that divination be merged with allopathic medical care methods so as to provide holistic health care services to all who may need it.

Pharmacology teaching in dental education in India: Time for a reappraisal.

India has a unique position with its vast population and rapidly increasing healthcare demand. Dental health is integral to a holistic health care need, and a robust dental education system is necessary. Dental education in India is mainly regulated by the Dental Councilof India, setting broad guidelines. Universities having dental colleges and institutes develop fine curriculum development and evaluation details. General and Dental Pharmacology and Therapeuticsis a crucial subject taught to undergraduate dental students during the second year of a 4-year duration course. A dental graduate should be well trained in general and systemic pharmacology and rational therapeutics principles. This has been set as an objective by the Dental Council of India. Sound knowledge of the drug action mechanisms, indications, adverse drug reactions, drug interactions and contraindications, evidence-based medicine, and rational use of adrug is core to the allopathic system. The practical exercises on human simulation or computer-assisted learning are critical for understanding pharmacology. The subject of pharmacology for dental graduates has been allotted 70 hours of theory and 20 hours of practicals with almost the same syllabus as medical graduates. This article highlights the areas of concern concerning the deficiency of teaching hours and needed improvement in the curriculum to make it competent to achieve its objective. The authors bring this much-needed topic for discussion among academicians and for the attention of regulatory authorities.

Health Services to Meet Physical, Mental, and Social Needs of 126 Females Who Survived Boko Haram Abduction and Captivity: Providers' Perspective.

We explore the challenges faced by survivors of Boko Haram abduction and human trafficking after their release by interviewing survivors' care providers and analyzing electronic medical records at the American University of Nigeria Health Center. Our report details the physical, mental, and social challenges the survivors faced in captivity and how providers managed those challenges using a holistic health care model.

A retrospective survey of death care practices and procedures in handling suspected and confirmed COVID-19 deceased bodies in the mortuary of a resource-poor tertiary healthcare facility in Uyo, South-South Nigeria.

Introductionthe death care of deceased bodies of confirmed COVID-19 cases is a critical component of holistic healthcare provision for COVID-19 cases particularly from the public health perspective of infection prevention/control. Regrettably, there is a dearth of research-based information on the management (death care) of COVID-19 deceased bodies. Thus, we aimed to determine the preservation/storage death care practices and procedures in accordance with infection prevention/control measures used for deceased bodies of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases deposited in our mortuary and explore their antemortem age/sex distribution.Methodsa retrospective hospital-based cross-sectional survey done at the mortuary unit of Department of Histopathology, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo, Akwa Ibom State (covering January 2020 to September 2021). Our study participants were all deceased bodies of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases deposited in/cared for at UUTH mortuary within this period.Resultswe found 28 suspected/confirmed COVID-19 deceased bodies, of which 51.86% were within the 6th and 7t hdecade of life and 71.43% were males (M/F = 2.5/1). They constituted 5.93% of the deceased bodies deposited in UUTH mortuary within this period. All (100%) were embalmed, and 75% were embalmed by immersion. The peak periods of their deposition were within the first halves of the two years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusionwe provided death care (mainly through embalmment) for deceased bodies of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases in our resource poor setting using locally derived innovative means while still adhering to infection prevention/control measures to protect our death care workers in the mortuary.

A Rare Case Report on Sewing Needle as an Interdental Aid: Ignorance or Paucity of Oral Health Education

The regular use of interdental aids for maintenance of oral hygiene is relatively sparse especially in the developing countries like Nepal. Rather, use of home-based alternatives is more popular among people, which may cause injury to both the hard and soft tissues of oral cavity. This case reports a 14-year-old-female patient who used sewing needle for removing lodged food which broke and got embedded in the buccal mucosa. Exploration of the site of injury revealed the broken needle which was retrieved under topical anaesthesia. Lack of awareness is still a major hindrance causing poor oral hygiene practices among people. Promotion of effective oral health at all levels is the need of hour for achieving holistic health care of especially the dependent population. It is thus high time that we, as dentists evaluate our role in the society and ponder upon the oral health education provided to patients regarding oral health.

Everyday Lives of Middle-Aged Persons with Multimorbidity: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.

The healthcare burden of patients with multimorbidity may negatively affect their family lives, leisure time and professional activities. This mixed methods systematic review synthesizes studies to assess how multimorbidity affects the everyday lives of middle-aged persons, and identifies skills and resources that may help them overcome that burden. Two independent reviewers screened title/abstracts/full texts in seven databases, extracted data and used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) to assess risk of bias (RoB). We synthesized findings from 44 studies (49,519 patients) narratively and, where possible, quantitatively. Over half the studies provided insufficient information to assess representativeness or response bias. Two studies assessed global functioning, 15 examined physical functioning, 18 psychosocial functioning and 28 work functioning. Nineteen studies explored skills and resources that help people cope with multimorbidity. Middle-aged persons with multimorbidity have greater impairment in global, physical and psychosocial functioning, as well as lower employment rates and work productivity, than those without. Certain skills and resources help them cope with their everyday lives. To provide holistic and dynamic health care plans that meet the needs of middle-aged persons, health professionals need greater understanding of the experience of coping with multimorbidity and the associated healthcare burden.

Alaska Native elders’ cultural beliefs, practices, and values: The case for culturally informed holistic dementia care

AbstractBackgroundAlaska Native (AN) people are projected to experience Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias at an increasingly high rate in comparison to other US races. However, due to colonization among AN tribes and the subsequent institutionalization of modern medicine, cultural practices and values that greatly impact holistic health and dementia care have been overshadowed and in some instances eradicated. Thus, more can be known about the psychosocial factors that have and can contribute to optimal dementia care for a population that experiences health disparities (e.g., heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, cerebrovascular diseases) and barriers to care (e.g., language, rurality, access to resources).MethodIn order to understand precolonial and present cultural practices that comprise optimal dementia care for AN people, a grounded theory, exploratory study was conducted. Twelve semi‐structured interviews with AN Elders assessed the etiology, course, treatment, caregiving, and the culturally derived meanings of memory function, loss, decline, and disease.ResultQualitative analyses revealed eight culturally grounded and salient themes: 1) Traditional Knowledge Systems and Values; 2) Caregiving Networks; 3) Memory Function; 4) AN Spirituality; 5) Stories, Generative Sharing, and Healing; 6) Historical Change; 7) Connection, Communication, and Compassion; and 8) Assisted Living. These themes are best understood through AN lifecycle theory, which is a holistic representation of the culturally specific psychosocial protective factors, disease preventive, and caregiving practices that comprise an AN caregiving model.ConclusionThis study highlights the overall themes of continuity, connectedness, spirituality, intergenerational transmission, history, and belief systems, which emerged as a result of investigating cultural practices that comprise optimal dementia care for AN people. The culturally adaptive and congruent representations that AN Elder’s utilize in understanding memory functioning, loss, decline, and disease (i.e., forms of dementia) both explain and transcend Western biomedical models. Further, more meaningful beliefs are the outcome of an internalization and lived expression of the AN lifecycle. This AN lifecycle theory provides proscriptions for living life holistically, with a strong connection to land, and provides a fulcrum that allows one to understand the complexity of dementia caregiving as it relates to AN culture, history, and traditions embedded within the current sociocultural context.

When should we intervene in adolescent depression and with whom?

When should we intervene in adolescent depression and with whom?

An observational study to assess the demographic status and health-seeking behavior of SC women and children in Bhubaneswar Block of Odisha

BACKGROUND: The Scheduled Castes (SC) population of Odisha constitutes 17.3% of the total population of the state and is one of the most vulnerable groups with regard to health care due to the non-availability of affordable and quality health services. Reproductive health literacy is relatively poorer in adolescents and women, which impacts their reproductive health. OBJECTIVE: The core objectives of the study were to determine the socioeconomic status, living conditions, educational status, dietetic habits, lifestyles, and healthcare-seeking behavior of SC women and children, promote awareness regarding lifestyle and health, and also provide healthcare services at their doorsteps. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted from January to December 2019 in the SC population-dominated areas of the Khurdha district of Odisha. The requisite information was documented by door-to-door visits from respondents who provided their consent for participation in the study, through a structured format. Awareness was created to the respondents through distribution of Information, Education, and Communication materials and public lectures. Ayurveda healthcare services were provided as per the initial screening, presence of risk factors, and presenting complaints, if any. The data gathered were analyzed through descriptive statistical assessment, i.e., measures of frequency and position of the data. RESULTS: A total of 5041 people were surveyed, including females and children only. Among these, 2758 were women of reproductive age and 2283 were children. Of the 2283 children, 1186 were male and 1097 were female. The causes of gynecological diseases in SC women are poor living conditions, environmental factors, poor hygiene, improper care during menstrual cycles, a faulty lifestyle, and a low socioeconomic status. The health indices were found to have improved due to the implementation of various women-centric welfare schemes by the government and institutional delivery. CONCLUSION: The Reproductive and Child Health program is pivotal for improving the health outcomes of the deprived and unreached segment of the SC women’s population. Supplementation of comprehensive and holistic health care through Ayurveda advocacy is sustainable and can improve health outcomes and reduce mortality and morbidity.

Centrality and compatibility of institutional logics when introducing value-based reimbursement.

Using financial incentives has been criticised for putting too much focus on things that can be measured. Value-based reimbursement may better align professional values with financial incentives. However, professional values may differ between actor groups. In this article, the authors identify institutional logics within healthcare-providing organisations. Further, the authors analyse how the centrality and compatibility of the identified logics affect the institutionalisation of external demands. 41 semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from healthcare providers within spine surgery in Sweden, where a value-based reimbursement programme was introduced. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis with an abductive approach, and a conceptual framework based on neo-institutional theory. After the introduction of the value-based reimbursement programme, the centrality and compatibility of the institutional logics within healthcare-providing organisations changed. The logic of spine surgeons was dominating whereas physiotherapists struggled to motivate a higher cost for high quality physiotherapy. The institutional logic of nurses was aligned with spine surgeons, however as a peripheral logic facilitating spine surgery. To attain holistic and interdisciplinary healthcare, dominating institutional logics within healthcare-providing organisations need to allow peripheral institutional logics to attain a higher centrality for higher compatibility. Thus, allowing other occupations to take responsibility for quality and attain the feeling of professional pride. Interviewing spine surgeons, physiotherapists, nurses, managers and administrators allows us to deepen the understanding of micro-level behaviour as a reaction (or lack thereof) to macro-level decisions.

A reading of the leper’s healing in Matthew 8:1–4 through ethnomedical anthropology

Scholars offer several options for Matthew’s value of the leper’s story in his narrative that range from revealing Jesus’ attributes of compassion and sympathy, manifesting God’s empire, to portraying Jesus’ function as a temple. Although these suggestions aptly portray Matthew’s rhetorical use of the leper’s healing in his narrative to address societal concerns of his time, for lack of referring to the social setting of the narrative, they do not capture the holistic healthcare system embodied by Jesus in Matthew’s narrative that portrays Jesus as a superior healer to the rest of the other healers in the Roman Empire. The findings of the research for this article establish the argument that employing ethnomedical anthropology as a lens to read the leper’s healing narrative in Matthew 8:1–4 in the context of Matthew’s social setting reveals Matthew’s ideology for a transcendent and immanent Christology. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the effectiveness of medical anthropological theory in explaining the dynamics of health and healing reflected in biblical texts.Contributions: This article contributes to the interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion by employing a ethnomedical anthropological perspective to read the leper’s healing in Matthew 8.1–4 in reference to the first century CE health systems in the Roman Empire. This approach procured that Matthew’s immanent and transcendent perspectives of Christology is crucial in demonstrating the text’s function in constructing and sustaining the identity of Matthew’s community in antiquity.

A Multilevel Empowerment Approach to Prevent Relapse and Improve Quality of Life of People with Mental Disorders

The global health problem that increases significantly every year is psychiatric disorders. Decrease in thequality of life of people with mental disorders, error in the recurrence rate suffered. This study aims to seethe effectiveness of holistic family-centered mental health care in preventing recurrence and improving thequality of life of people with mental disorders in Kediri Regency, East Java Province. The research designused RCT (Randomized Control Trial). The population in the study was people with mental disorders. Theresearch sample consisted of 38 groups of respondents and 38 control groups with the multistage randomsampling technique. Dependent variables were disease recurrence and quality of life for people with mentaldisorders. Va¬riabel independent is a family-centered holistic mental health care. The instrument uses aquestionnaire that has been tested for validity and reliability. Data analysis used an independent t-test usingSTATA 13. The t-test results showed that the increase in the average increase in the treatment group afterbeing given the intervention “family-centered holistic mental health care” while the control group did notchange significantly. Holistic, family-centered mental health care with a multilevel approach in this study iseffective in preventing relapses and improving the lives of people with mental disorders. It is hoped that itcan be used to help improve the quality of life for a wider range of people with mental disorders

The Correlation between Islamic Spirituality and Distress in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

More than half of people with Diabetes Mellitus experience distress. Spirituality-religiosity strengthens mental health status through coping mechanism for handling distress in type 2 DM patients. The majority of the population in Indonesia is Muslim; therefore, this study aims to determine the correlation between Islamic spirituality and distress in type 2 DM patients. This research is an analytic observational study with a cross-sectional approach conducted at PKU Muhammadiyah Gamping Hospital. Subjects were type 2 DM patients, both outpatient and inpatient, diagnosed at least more than six months. Interviews about spirituality used the Holistic Health Care (HHC) questionnaire, while distress used the Diabetes Distress Screening Scale (DDSS) questionnaire. The data analysis was carried out using the Spearman test and Somers'd test. Forthy six subjects were obtained with an age range between 45 to 75 years old. Based on the data analysis, it showed that there was a positive correlation (p 0.020; r -0.343) between Psychospiritual and DM Distress scores. Furthermore, there was a moderate correlation between Islamic spirituality and distress in type 2 DM patients.

Barriers to Using Telehealth During a Pandemic Versus In-Person Appointments to Conduct Nutrition Assessments in a Community Health Clinic Setting

Abstract Objectives Barriers to healthcare among undocumented immigrants include fear of deportation, national policies excluding patients from receiving healthcare, and resource constraints, such as a lack of financial assets and transportation. The pandemic has exacerbated these barriers for community health clinic patients at St. Mary's Health Clinics (SMHC). Nutrition assessments are pivotal in providing holistic healthcare at SMHC, as high rates of food insecurity and chronic diseases exist, in addition to a unified need for education on culturally appropriate food selections for long-term health. The primary objective was to assess the barriers for SMHC patients when conducting nutrition assessments via telehealth versus an in-person clinic. Methods SMHC registered nurses (RN) triaged patients in need of nutrition assessment based on recent laboratory results or patient requests. The schedule was coordinated between RN, registered dietitian (RD), interpreter, and patient; the interpreter connected the patient to the telehealth appointment by providing call-in details or merging phone calls. The appointment was conducted via a secure virtual platform where phone or computer access was granted to all parties. Perception of barriers to telehealth were recorded by RD. Results Pre-pandemic, 6–8 nutrition assessments were conducted in-person monthly. Between the initiation of telehealth in July and December of 2020, 62 telehealth appointments were conducted, averaging 12.4 appointments per month. As a result of telehealth, the barrier of transportation to appointments was eliminated, nutrition assessment volume increased by 1.5–2 times, flexibility in appointment scheduling times increased, and the risk of spreading illness decreased. Challenges of telehealth were the inability to conduct nutrition-focused physical examinations, the presence of distractions in patient and/or provider home environments, increased coordination of care across the interprofessional team, and miscommunication/technology issues with the telehealth platform. Conclusions Telehealth has reduced some of the barriers to conducting nutrition assessments and has allowed for accessibility to a wider patient population, however, additional challenges unique to telehealth during the global pandemic were present. Funding Sources GHR Foundation Grant

A preliminary study on applying holistic health care model on medical education behavioral intention: a theoretical perspective of planned behavior

BackgroundThis study aimed to apply the theory of planned behavior to identify the medical education behavioral intention of holistic healthcare on teachers and students who influence the medical and healthcare profession, as a revised future direction for hospitals to continue to implement holistic healthcare.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed from April to May 2020. A questionnaire survey was conducted with the clinical teachers and students of the medical and healthcare profession in an individual Taiwan hospital as study subjects, based on judgmental sampling, and the study tool was a structured questionnaire.ResultsA total of 360 valid samples were collected, 105 clinical teachers (29.2%) and 255 students (70.8%). Demographic variables were significantly different between clinical teachers (mean = 3.91) and students (mean = 3.73) (p = 0.023). Post hoc analysis regarding work experience found that those with work experience < 2 years (mean = 3.94) had higher results than those with 6–10 years (mean = 3.61) (p = 0.019). The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that the factors affecting medical education behavioral intention are subjective norm (t = 3.571, p < 0.001) and perceived behavioral control (t = 11.870, p < 0.001).ConclusionsWith respect to medical education behavioral intention, clinical teachers and students are affected by the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. It is recommended that, in the curriculum of holistic medical education, designing holistic medical education teaching templates and check forms can encourage clinical teachers to re-examine their beliefs in teaching, learning, and knowledge. The results of this study allow the advocator to consider from a broader view making policies of and promoting the platform of holistic healthcare on medical education. It is recommended that future researchers conduct research, investigation, and analysis on other stakeholders.

Healthcare use by people who use illicit opioids (HUPIO): development of a cohort based on electronic primary care records in England.

Background: People who use illicit opioids such as heroin have substantial health needs, but there are few longitudinal studies of general health and healthcare in this population. Most research to date has focused on a narrow set of outcomes, including overdoses and HIV or hepatitis infections. We developed and validated a cohort using UK primary care electronic health records (Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD and AURUM databases) to facilitate research into healthcare use by people who use illicit opioid use (HUPIO). Methods: Participants are patients in England with primary care records indicating a history of illicit opioid use. We identified codes including prescriptions of opioid agonist therapies (methadone and buprenorphine) and clinical observations such as 'heroin dependence'. We constructed a cohort of patients with at least one of these codes and aged 18-64 at cohort entry, with follow-up between January 1997 and March 2020. We validated the cohort by comparing patient characteristics and mortality rates to other cohorts of people who use illicit opioids, with different recruitment methods. Results: Up to March 2020, the HUPIO cohort included 138,761 patients with a history of illicit opioid use. Demographic characteristics and all-cause mortality were similar to existing cohorts: 69% were male; the median age at index for patients in CPRD AURUM (the database with more included participants) was 35.3 (interquartile range 29.1-42.6); the average age of new cohort entrants increased over time; 76% had records indicating current tobacco smoking; patients disproportionately lived in deprived neighbourhoods; and all-cause mortality risk was 6.6 (95% CI 6.5-6.7) times the general population of England. Conclusions: Primary care data offer new opportunities to study holistic health outcomes and healthcare of this population. The large sample enables investigation of rare outcomes, whilst the availability of linkage to external datasets allows investigation of hospital use, cancer treatment, and mortality.

An insight into patient management and health outcome monitoring by traditional healers in Botswana

Appropriate medical and ethical conduct of traditional healers is often questioned by experts in the biomedical field. The absence of efficacy proofs and perceived inappropriate dosage measures are cited as reasons for doubting the authenticity of traditional medical practice. The main objective of the study was to analyse patient care processes, the monitoring of treatment adherence and health outcomes by traditional healers including management of side effects. A participatory/exploratory study design, which combined multiple level data collection and analysis, was chosen. Data were collected through consultative and report-back workshops, face-to-face administration of structured and unstructured interviews and non-obtrusive participant observations. Research findings suggest that traditional healers in Botswana areas of expertise include sexually transmitted infections, children’s conditions and reproductive health. Healers maintain close healer-patient relations through effective monitoring of dosage intake, treatment adherence, side effect detection and health improvement. The strategies include coupling prescribed medicine with follow-up visits and phone calls or intake of ‘stay-in’ patients. Healers were found to have an unwritten code of ethical conduct which puts the healing/well-being of a patient at the centre of their practice - a standpoint agreeable with general biomedical ethics. The study demonstrates the provision of quality health services by traditional healers, which should serve as an entry point for holistic health care provision and policy integration.The study concludes that concerns about laboratory validation/assessment of risks tend to devalue preclinical healers’ patient observational insights, which, when documented properly, can be harnessed for drug discovery as well as for value-added development of traditional medicines.