Discussion postComplementary and alternative medicine

Holistic Care and Treatments NURS4006

Patients use these therapies whether or not nurses approve. The prompt's last question, about the shared role, is where a realistic answer starts.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 25, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Disclosure is the clinical problem, not use

Start from the fact that changes the whole discussion: patients in cancer and palliative care use complementary therapies at high rates and frequently do not tell their clinicians, often because they expect disapproval. That makes non-disclosure the clinical problem rather than use itself, and it is a safety problem with concrete mechanisms, since several herbal preparations interact with chemotherapeutic agents, anticoagulants and analgesics. A nurse who signals that the question is safe to answer learns things that change care; a nurse who signals disapproval gets a shorter list. That reframing also answers the prompt's shared-role question, because the sharing begins with an exchange in which the patient supplies information and the nurse supplies what is known about interactions. It also moves the post past the question of whether these therapies work, which the prompt is not asking and which cannot be settled in a discussion post anyway.

Keep the categories distinct, because the ethics differ sharply between them. A mind-body practice used alongside conventional treatment for symptom relief raises almost no ethical difficulty and has evidence behind it for anxiety and for some pain; an ingested product raises interaction and quality-control questions and is regulated as a supplement rather than as a medicine; and an unproven therapy pursued instead of conventional treatment raises the hardest question, where autonomy and non-maleficence genuinely conflict and the nurse's obligation is to ensure the choice is informed rather than to override it. Your chosen subtopic sharpens this: in end-of-life and palliative care the goal is comfort, so the threshold for a low-risk complementary therapy is reasonably low, while in active cancer treatment a substitution decision can cost survival. The teaching plan should therefore centre on asking without judgement, checking interactions, and knowing the scope boundary. None of those three requires the nurse to adjudicate whether a therapy works.

Likely learning objectives

Identify non-disclosure rather than use as the clinical risk.
Distinguish mind-body practices, ingested products and substitution decisions.
Apply autonomy and non-maleficence to a substitution decision.
Build a teaching plan around asking, checking and scope.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

NURS4006 Topics in Clin Nursing Week 5 Discussion Holistic Care and Treatments The use of complementary and alternative therapies in the treatment of cancer patients, terminal patients, and many other types of patients is steadily increasing. The Resources also contain much information about the various alternative therapies currently being used. For this Discussion, you will consider alternative therapies and discuss the challenges associated with them. To prepare for this Discussion: Review the Resources pertaining to alternative therapies. Select one of the following areas where alternative therapies are being used: Cancer treatment Cancer symptom management End-of-life care Palliative care Find at least one scholarly journal article discussing alternative therapies in your chosen subtopic. By Day 3 Respond to the following: Identify at least one challenge associated with the nurse’s role in providing alternative therapies for patient care. Explain how the nurse might integrate the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) approaches in your chosen subtopic and discuss the ethical issues nurses may face. What are the main elements you would include in a teaching plan for nurses on the use of CAM in your chosen subtopic? What is the shared role of the nurse and patient in developing care plans? Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature. Assignment Holistic Care and Treatments NURS4006 Note Initial Post: A 3-paragraph (at least 350 words) response. Be sure to use evidence from the readings and include in-text citations. Utilize essay-level writing practice and skills, including the use of transitional material and organizational frames. Avoid quotes; paraphrase to incorporate evidence into your own writing. A reference list is required. Use the most current evidence (usually ? 5 years old). By Day 7 Read two or more of your colleagues’ postings from the Discussion question (support with evidence if indicated). Respond with a comment that asks for clarification, provides support for, or contributes additional information to two or more of your colleagues’ postings. Post a Discussion entry on three different days of the week. Refer to the Discussion Rubric found in the Course Information and Grading Criteria area. Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.

What the Day 3 post requires

01Selection of one area: cancer treatment, cancer symptom management, end-of-life care or palliative care.
02At least one scholarly journal article on alternative therapies in that subtopic.
03At least one challenge associated with the nurse's role in providing alternative therapies.
04How the nurse might integrate CAM approaches in the chosen subtopic, and the ethical issues nurses may face.
05The main elements of a teaching plan for nurses on CAM use in that subtopic.
06The shared role of the nurse and patient, posted by Day 3.