Dr. Nancy Laplante, assistant professor of nursing, recently achieved her Holistic Nursing Certificate (HNC) from The BirchTree Center for Healthcare Transformation. HNC is a recognized national board certification indicating expertise in holistic nursing practice.

The American Holistic Nurses Association describes holistic nursing as a specialty practice that draws on nursing knowledge, theories, expertise and intuition to guide nurses in becoming therapeutic partners with their patients. This practice recognizes the totality of the human being - the interconnectedness of body, mind, emotion, spirit, society, culture, relationship, context, and environment. 


“It’s definitely the mind, body, spirit approach. I think it is gaining popularity and in my opinion it’s a great thing. It’s something I would recommend for any nurse that has that mindset. I really loved it,” Laplante said.


The basic premise of holistic nursing is that caregivers have to take care of themselves. The first foundation is self-care; the next principle is how to communicate with patients. Laplante said it wasn’t a stretch for her to do that because it mimics RISES (Neumann University’s core values of Reverence, Integrity, Service, Excellence, and Stewardship).


Laplante and nursing professor Elizabeth Loeper currently teach a nursing elective course called Practice of Self-Care that touches on some of the basic principles of holistic nursing.


“I would love to offer courses here to let our students move in that direction. We have to think outside the box on how we take care of people due to the changes in health care,” she said.


Laplante holds a BSN from William Paterson University, an MSN in Community Health Nursing from West Chester University, and a PhD in Nursing from Widener University. She has practiced in a variety of acute care and community health settings, and has worked as a freelance editor/writer/reviewer for the past 15 ye
Laplante holds a BSN from William Paterson University, an MSN in Community Health Nursing from West Chester University, and a PhD in Nursing from Widener Universityars.