Holistic care in nursing means caring for the whole person, not only medically treating the illness or injury at hand. It considers physical health, but also emotional, spiritual, cultural, and relational needs, then uses that fuller picture to guide care. In holistic nursing, the goal is to support healing, well-being, and a care experience that reflects the person’s values and overall health goals.
Holistic or integrative nursing care is broader and more person-centered than what might be considered the default approach to nursing.
A more traditional or routine approach may focus mainly on immediate clinical issues, such as medications, vital signs, procedures, safety, and discharge steps.
Holistic care includes those essentials, but goes further by asking questions like:
- How is this person coping emotionally?
- What beliefs or cultural factors matter in their care?
- What stress, trauma, relationships, or lifestyle factors may affect healing?
- What support will help them feel whole, heard, and engaged?
In practice, that can mean using whole-person assessment, building a stronger therapeutic relationship, creating a healing environment, and drawing on evidence-informed integrative strategies when appropriate. It also emphasizes cultural humility, trauma-responsive care, and support for self-care and resilience.
So, the difference is not that holistic nursing replaces standard nursing care. It adds depth to it by treating the patient as a complete person rather than a set of symptoms.
Learn more about the Holistic Integrative Health program
BLS pay estimates calculate the median annual wage for various occupations. Per the BLS the median wage for an occupation is: "The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount, and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey." Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2024. BLS median wage estimates do not represent entry-level wages and/or salaries. Multiple factors, including prior experience, age, geographic market in which you want to work, and degree level and field, will affect career outcomes, including starting salary and earnings as an experienced employee. Herzing neither represents that its graduates will earn the median salaries calculated by BLS for a particular job nor guarantees that graduation from its program will result in a job, promotion, particular wage or salary, or other career growth.
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