Paper: Following the Roots of Care: Research Utilization and Botanical Remedies in Nursing (40th Biennial Convention (October 31st- November 4th, 2009))

Monday, November 2, 2009: 3:50 PM

Martha M. Libster, PhD, RN, CNS
School of Nursing, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

Learning Objective 1: identify at least 3 sources for botanical remedy evidence used in nursing practice, teaching, and research.

Learning Objective 2: state an example of the way in which they plan to use the guideline presented in the session when evaluating botanical resources.

Integrating historical and scientific applications of botanical remedies in the care of patients is an important global health issue. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of the world's population continues to use their traditional methods of healing including the use of medicinal plants (Farnsworth et al, 1985). Nurses have historically participated in the use of botanical remedies in communities as an accessible, inexpensive, and effective method of care. One example is the 350 year-old botanical care tradition that began with the French Daughters of Charity in the 17^th century and eventually passed to American Sisters in the 19^th century (Libster, 2004).

In 2004, Dickenson-Hazard published the Arista conference reports in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship in which multidisciplinary participants identified global needs for the future of health care and nurses’ roles in achieving those goals. At all five Arista conferences, one of the most frequently cited “unique challenges” for nurses to be able to meet global health needs of the future included “differing cultures, values, and beliefs requiring balance and integration of Western medicine and health care principles with more traditional approaches.” This paper addresses this need. It will focus specifically on the issues surrounding botanical research utilization in nursing. Historical botanical evidence from nurses’ practice such as the Daughters of Charity will be discussed as well as examples from current botanical-based clinical research directed by nurses and scientists from other disciplines.

A brief guideline for evaluating botanical resources (publications, practitioners, plant sources) will be provided. Explanation of the guideline will include highlights of some of the current challenges in botanical research and clinical use by nurses. This paper briefly addresses the opportunities for nurses to build a research platform that mobilizes their historical expertise in botanical care as one aspect of creating optimal healing environments.

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