A Holistic Approach to Medical Cannabis Care

With medical cannabis becoming more legal, nurse practitioners and nursing students must understand the details of its applications.

FREMONT, CA: Providing holistic medical cannabis care is essential for patients’ success in using cannabis safely and effectively, as well as providing support, education, and coaching to cannabis care nurses. A patient's health is considered from a physical, mental, and spiritual perspective using holistic approaches. They examine the underlying causes of their condition and how cannabis can be used to help them.

The role of cannabis care nurses includes providing advice and support and educating patients about medical cannabis. Additionally, they can provide coaching to support the development of a customized treatment plan.

Understanding of the human endocannabinoid system: A person's ECS affects various important functions, including how they move, feel, and react, and is one of the unique systems in the brain and body. In the ECS, the body produces natural chemicals known as endocannabinoids, which interact with receptors to regulate important body functions and produce effects similar to those of cannabis. Our bodies must continue reproducing new endocannabinoids since enzymes and proteins naturally degrade them. A person's ECS regulates the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, energy uptake, immunity, and inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals, as well as maintaining homeostasis.

Holistic approaches to medical cannabis care: Many holistic approaches upregulate the ECS. Some of what has been demonstrated are that exercise, diet, massage therapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, meditation, and even cold showers can do so. A balanced diet consisting of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and reducing toxins in foods such as large quantities of sugar and pesticides are other methods of increasing the response of the ECS. Mediation, yoga, massages, and acupuncture can also provide great benefits. It is easier for our ECS to maintain homeostasis when we can enter a relaxation response. This relaxation response is triggered by the release of hormones such as endorphins and serotonin that help to reduce stress and inflammation. When we can reduce stress and inflammation, the ECS can work more effectively to maintain a healthy balance in the body.

Nurse's cannabis care role: It is directly relevant to clinical nursing practice to consider cannabis use, social and legal climates, and patient care. As part of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Cannabis Nurses Association (ACNA) is working to make cannabis care a subspecialty within nursing. Nurses play an important role in assessing pain, nausea, anxiety, sleep issues, anorexia, and other palliative and healing needs. It is essential to assess and diagnose patients based on their history, knowledge of cannabis use, including strains and ingestion methods, current cannabis use, knowledge of possible side effects from palliative medications, safety concerns that patients may have with cannabis use, and finances to determine what treatments are available to the patient.

It is common for nurses to treat patients who are using cannabis or are considering it as a treatment option. Nurses need practical information and current research to care for patients using or considering cannabis for medical purposes. To better serve their patients, nurses must understand the ECS, cannabinoids, and clinical implications of cannabis legalization. Evidence shows that cannabis can effectively treat many medical conditions, including chronic pain, depression, and seizures. It is also effective against cancer. As many states legalize cannabis for medical use, nurses must be equipped to provide the best care for patients using or considering cannabis as a treatment option by having the necessary knowledge and skills.