The nurses supported my’ Introduction to Aromatherapy’ classes and within a year I added a second class, ‘Beyond Lavender’. There was no charge for hospital employees. Class information included essential oil precautions, qualities of select essential oils, safety and the effective use of essential oils with a variety of modalities for personal use. Topics covered included stress, insomnia and depressed mood, just to name a few. Over several years, the course expanded to include additional classes that focused on self care, stress reduction and skin care.
In addition to formal classes, I provided departmental in-services for all who asked me to! Many of the nursing departments requested short presentations during retreats and monthly meetings and one month I talked to staff in environmental services. Of course, everyone (almost) loved inhaling the essential oils and most were extremely interested in the fragrant aromatic plant chemicals which have the ability to heal mind, body and spirit.
Over time as the popularity of the essential oils grew and with many nurses attending classes, the time came to discuss use of essential oils with patients. Select nursing leadership and educators came together to create a policy for patient use that was presented to the hospital Policy and Procedure Committee and was passed! The policy included required education and what specialties would use essential oils, among other components. Select essential oils (generally four ) were chosen by each department, depending on their patient population.
I realize I am making this sound so simple which may be misleading! Of course, hours were spent on policy creation as well as strategy presentation. This was after several years of classes and educational talks. My opinion on the success of the endeavor was the fact that nursing claimed ownership and skillfully steered the clinical essential oil policy through the proper channels. The concept was “We can do this!” not “Can we do this?”
…To be continued in the next article.
For questions and additional information , please do not hesitate to email cheryl@primalhints.com.