Anthroposophic nursing care goes beyond the communicative approach of soft skills. Nurses form a bridge between treatment of the body and treatment of the patient's soul and spirit by actively valuing the human body, paying attention to touch, using warmth, cold, air, and light to promote healing processes, and much more. Although physical wellbeing, autonomy, and youthfulness are central to our modern materialistic culture, our bodies actually receive little respect and appreciation, especially when they become ill and eventually old. Nursing values need to be rediscovered that respect the debased human being, embrace illness as a part of existence, and allow time for healing. A key aspect of this book involves the idea and practice of "nursing gestures," relating inner attitudes and practical nursing activities to one another in detail through numerous examples and overviews. Anthroposophic Nursing Practice shows not only the possibility, but also the practical experience of nursing care, which aims to be both holistic and optimistic. The knowledge and perspectives gathered in this book have matured through the work of several generations of anthroposophically oriented nurses, all striving to refine a truly integrative nursing practice. This unique book will no doubt become the classic text on the important practice of anthroposophic nursing. Contributors include Klaus Adams, Frances Bay, Gudrun Buchholz, Annegret Camps, Bernhard Deckers, Carola Edelmann, Sasha Gloor, Renate Hasselberg, Inge Heine, Rolf Heine, Christel Kaul, Monika Layer, Regula Markwalder, Heike Schaumann, Jana Schier, Ada van der Star, Christoph von Dach, Ursula von der Heide, Gabriele Weber, and Anna Wilde. C O N T E N T S Introduction to the English edition Adam Blanning, MD
Preface by Rolf Heine
Foreword to the fourth German edition by Matthias Girke, MD
Foreword to the third German edition by Michaela Gl ckler, MD I. METHODICAL-DIDACTICAL FOUNDATIONS 1. How Do You Learn Anthroposophic Nursing?
Learning Aid and Guide through this Textbook II. ANTHROPOSOPHY AND NURSING 2. Observation as a Method of Self-development and a Therapeutic Element in Care and Destiny
3. The Anthropological Foundations of Nursing Extended by Anthroposophy
4. Illness and Destiny
5. Nursing as a Path of Development
6. Meditation in Nursing
7. The Concept of Nursing Gestures as a Model for Nursing Care III. ELEMENTS OF NURSING CARE 8, Rhythm
9. The Human Warmth Organism an