The Broward Health Imperial Point Department of Nursing and the Holistic Care Council (HCC) recently announced a unique partnership with the Rwamagana School of Nursing in Rwanda, Africa. The HCC hosted a nursing textbook and supply drive in February 2017 to ship and support the school in Rwanda as a way of building relationships outside of our community, expanding the way in which a nurse can volunteer and expand interpersonal relationships. The HCC collected and shipped numerous supplies, uniforms, shoes and text books. Additionally, the partnership will include to opportunity to form pen pal relationships to help with developing writing and communication skills for the student nurses in Rwanda.
The Broward Health Imperial Point clinical practice shared governance structure has evolved over time recognizing the need to develop a dedicated council focused on holistic nursing care and practice. In December 2014, the BHIP HCC was formed to promote the values of kindness, respect, care, and compassion for oneself, patients, and peers – fostering a work climate focused on self-care for all team members, while providing quality holistic care for our patients. The HCC is an interdisciplinary committee and works through transformational leadership: inspiring, encouraging, innovating, teaching, mentoring, and modeling. The primary goal of this council is to foster an environment of healing throughout the healthcare environment with an emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Holistic care addresses the spiritual, emotional and physical concerns of ourselves, our patients and our peers. BHIP embraces the concepts of Jean Watson’s Caring Theory in all aspects of patient care. Creating supportive, caring environments for both staff and patients is a basic principle of holistic nursing practice and an increasingly important aspect of today’s healthcare delivery system.
