Nursing practice is a symbiotic relationship between the art and science of professional care. One cannot exist in isolation from the other. Nurses are inclined to connect the art of nursing with terms such as compassion, caring attitudes, the therapeutic relationship, presence, professionalism, advocacy, and competence, otherwise known as the “soft or caring side of nursing”. The greatest threat to the disappearance of the art of nursing lies with the perceived “big three”: time, fiscal restraint, and failure of the system to support a full staff of nurses, so those employed are working at full capacity. It is important to recognize that different practice settings have varying needs. One size does not fit all. Yet the requirements for nursing assessments, developing a plan of care, coordinating care with other health care providers, implementing interventions, and evaluating care outcomes are a requirement of all.

Springer Publishing Company was regrettably late in starting the publication of journals. Matt Fenton managed the production department, and responded to any small problem with instant help. The management of journal publishing is somewhat different from that of book publishing. In addition to the informational value of the contents and the financial income to the publisher, the journals bring repeated publicity about the publisher to readers. At the psychology convention of 1986 a small group of the authors gathered near our exhibit booth for no particular reason. Dr. Eisenberg provided good advice through the years on manuscripts suitable for our Series in Rehabilitation. The first nursing journal was established: Scholarly Inquiry in Nursing Practice. The readers of the journal were the readers of Springer nursing books, those who aspired to advancing the profession through research, education, or innovative practices.

Reformed churches are predominantly Presbyterian in polity, where the congregation is governed by a group of elected elders who are lay persons and a minister. Regional groups of churches form a Presbytery, and groups of Presbyteries form Synods that together form the national General Assembly. The Reformed Tradition is monotheistic, affirming one God, in three persons. The persons of the Trinity are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Reformed Christians are called, always and everywhere, to a committed pursuit of social justice and human wholeness. Disease, illness, suffering, and death, and indeed natural disaster as well, are a consequence of humankind’s choosing to go its own way and to live. Theologically, death is a consequence of human willfulness or going our own way in disobedience to God. Reformed Christian religious terminology reflects, in large part that found in mainstream Protestant Christian traditions.

The author, Martin Alpert, presents a method by which individual nurses can be independent, improve patient care, have fun, and earn more money. He proposes that the nursing profession become the leader in a shift to sustainable, least invasive therapies and evaluations (LITE). LITE represents a major profit opportunity for nurses. Many of these new therapies require medical professionals, but not necessarily doctors. They can be administered by dedicated and trained nurses. The impact of LITE on the global society of nursing leading this area of medicine could be transformational for nursing, medicine, and society. Nursing could lead in diagnosis and treatment under the LITE paradigm. Acupuncture is becoming part of conventional therapy. It can be a part of nursing practice. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated that 80” of people worldwide rely on herbal medicines for some part of their primary health care.

Critical and acute care nursing practice is intellectually and emotionally challenging, requiring quick judgments and responses to life-threatening conditions where little margin for error exists. Developing expertise in acute and critical care practice requires experiential learning under pressure and ‘thinking-in-action’. This book briefly describes the nature of engaged ethical and clinical reasoning. Experiential clinical learning and situated coaching are central to the formation of the nurse’s skills, perceptual acuities, knowledge and relational qualities required in nursing practice. The book also provides an educational planning document to assist nurses in developing expert clinical practice. Multiple aspects of clinical judgment and skillful comportment are highlighted in each of the domains of practice. Clinical reasoning requires reasoning-in-transition about particular patients and families. Perceptual acuity is linked with emotional engagement with the problem and interpersonally with patients and families.

There is abundant evidence of the importance of sleep and sleep disorders in nursing practice. This chapter provides a perspective on future directions in nursing research, practice, and education relative to sleep promotion and prevention and treatment of sleep disorders. It also provides an opportunity to examine some of the exciting possibilities and challenges for advancing sleep science and the implementation of this evidence in the discipline of nursing. While the contributions of nurses to sleep science are growing, the application of science to practice and pedagogy lags behind scientific progress. The chapter presents an overview of opportunities and possible directions for nursing scholarship related to sleep, and also presents an overview of current trends that intersect with the need for evidence-based practice in sleep promotion, and suggest implications for nursing curricula. The effort will require creativity, dedication, strategic planning and successful interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as collaborations within nursing.

This chapter helps the reader to understand the concepts of holistic health. Westberg used the term holistic health to define a whole or completely integrated approach to health and health care that integrates the physical and spiritual aspects of the whole person. Nursing practice in the United States has come full circle, from a holistic approach to a biopsychosocial approach, and back to a holistic approach. Eastern medical traditions are based on the premise that human beings are made up of energy systems and vital life force. The flow and balance of energy are the underlying principle of traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and other traditions. The chapter suggests that health care practitioners who make several small changes in how patients’ religious commitments are broached in clinical practice may enhance health outcomes.

This chapter presents some of the educational strategies and implications of integrative teaching and learning. It describes two major types of integrative strategies that follow the logic of practice. First, multiple examples of how to coach situated learning in actual practice that have proven successful in developing embodied knowledge and skillful, intelligent performance, are detailed. Second, a Thinking-In-Action approach to integrating classroom with clinical teaching exemplifies how to teach learners to use extensive scientific, technological, and theoretical knowledge in the context of an unfolding patient situation that changes over time, while imaginatively responding to the patient’s multiple needs and other demands in the situation. In order to be effective clinicians, the student and developing nurse must progress to grasping the nature of whole clinical situations, developing an experience-based sense of salience and using multiple frames of reference that encompass patient and family-focused care.