Aromatherapy in Nursing Practice - Essay Example

AROMATHERAPY IN NURSING PRACTICE

Introduction

Aromatherapy is a science specialty that is used both as an alternative or complementary strategy in the treatment and management of stress and anxiety related disorders. Aromatherapy is, therefore, the use of fragrance from essential oils of plants in a therapeutic setting to manage stress-related illnesses. The fragrance is used to stimulate the chemoreceptors for smell associated with control of mood, memory, and behavior located in the limbic system particularly the amygdala. These oils are absorbed into the body through the skin or the olfactory cells located in the nostrils. Aromatherapy use has been used all over the world and continues to grow over the years. It has been blended with other complementary approaches such as massage and music for synergy in the management of stress and anxiety related illnesses.

Stress emanating from work conditions has cost the many countries in the world a fortune in the attempt to successfully manage this stress and anxiety. Stress is a scenario whereby both the internal and external body demand surpasses the body tolerant levels (Hur, Song, Lee, & Lee, 2014). Nurses are the majority of the healthcare personnel and on top of the list that are most exposed to stressful conditions in the workplace. These stressors arise from changes occurring within the organization, ever-increasing patient acuity and high workloads resulting from longer working hours and very small number of nurses compared to the patient’s numbers. This continued situation can lead to burn out for nurses and even job dissatisfaction that is very detrimental (Donaldson, 2017).

Aromatherapy has also become a significant tool in addressing maternal concerns related to childbearing such as stress, labor pain, hemorrhoids, managing episiotomy wounds and post-partum stress. American nurses association has incorporated aromatherapy as a complementary treatment of stress and related anxiety conditions, therefore, this has prompted healthcare personnel to be educated on embracing aromatherapy (CCAP, CCAP, & CCAP, 2014).

Essential oils

Essential oils more often penetrate through the body cells vigorously to bring about the desired effect fast. In the use of this essential oils, it is very important that one starts with the least possible dose and then topping it up slowly until the dose with the desired effect is met (Kaymaz & Ozdemir, 2017). This owes to the fact that different individuals respond differently to a different amount of these oils and some would react allergically to similar concentrations that bring a therapeutic effect in others. Thus a caregiver should identify the safe amount of oil to be used by each person to bring the desired therapeutic effects without fronting adverse effects.

Classification of essential oils

Essential oils are grouped regarding their properties and scent. These groups are;

Top notes; this is oils that are very volatile vaporizing vigorously, they are very light, least expensive but give fresh and refreshing scents. Their effects are short-acting and also have anti- viral properties. Examples in these class include bergamot, cajuput, cinnamon, clarysage, eucalyptus, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, verbena and niaouli, orange and tee tree among others.

Middle notes; this groups form the majority of the essential oils and help to impart a balancing effect in a blend of other essential oils. They take fairly medium time for their effect to be felt after their use. They often give soft, warm fragrances (Johnson et al., 2017). Examples include bay, black pepper, cypress, hyssop, juniper, lavender, Melissa, Palma Rosa, pine, rosemary, and yarrow.

Base notes; their fragrance takes much time to be realized, or on application to the skin, the effect is felt much later compared to other essential oils mentioned above. It helps to slow evaporation of other oils making the blend economic and thus a longer lasting effect on the body. Their fragrance is often heavy and very intense making these oils rich in therapeutic properties and also the most expensive of all. Examples are cassia, cedarwood, clove, oakmoss, vanilla, and valerian (Johnson et al., 2017).

Modes of use

Diffusion, in this mode of administration an equipment referred to as a diffuser that is specifically designed to create a fine mist of essential oils that is made fill the room in very few minutes. It is significant in that a diffuser is used to disperse the oils without using heat to disperse an alternative that would considerably lower the therapeutic effects of these essential oils. This mode creates a mist that is inhaled to bring about the relation, relieves anxiety, boost cognitive capabilities and manage weight. Aside from the therapeutic needs it also helps to cleanse the air making it fresh with an herbal scent.

Massage; in massage, a few drops of essential oil are mixed with massage oil that is delivered to the body during the process of massage to bring a therapeutic response (Donaldson, 2017).

Perfume; these are healthy natural fragrances that are sprayed on the body either directly or indirectly to bring a therapeutic response.

Compress; one to three drops of oil are diluted with a carrier oil and then applied to the desired location and rubbed gently to deliver the oil to the body cells (Donaldson, 2017). It should be noted that some essential oils can be applied to the skin directly without diluting though this is based on the skin sensitivity of an individual to the oil being prepared.

Bath or shower; few drops of the essential oils are added to the shower gel that is scentless or shampoo. Care should be taken to ensure that the base oils are properly dispersed to prevent accumulation on specific skin areas something that could irritate many people (Joseph & Joseph, 2016).

Direct inhalation; in direct inhalation, the effects of the essential oils is realized almost instantly thus a first therapeutic response to relieve mood disorders.

Cleaning; few drops of the essential oils are mixed with water to be used for washing garments and thus helping to purify and disinfect the garments. Furniture could also be made to be more enhanced by mixing washing water with the essential oils.

Use of aromatherapy to manage childbearing mothers

Clinical aromatherapy is the recent most proven to work complimentary approach to manage childbearing women. Nursing education, therefore, should be imparted to all nurses caring for expectant mothers in view to ensure proper aromatherapy care for mothers by nurses (CCAP et al., 2014). Aromatherapy has, therefore, become an important tool for caring for expectant mothers worldwide. It utilizes the principle that fragrances can be soothing and spirit lifting especially familiar smells while other smells arouse bad psychological effects in people.

Some essential oils such as ginger and peppermint can tremendously help to eradicate feelings of nausea in pregnant women. Another research conducted by Burns et al., (2007) revealed that rose and frankincense help to alleviate anxiety for mothers in labor (CCAP et al., 2014).

Immortelle has strong anti-inflammatory and healing actions when combined with other essential oils such as lavender and can be useful in promoting wound healing in childbearing mothers after sustaining tears during childbirth and in episiotomy wounds management (CCAP et al., 2014).

Rose and lavender mixture has been used to manage anxiety and depression that occurs in post-partum women. Tea tree, on the other hand, is betrothed antimicrobial properties and thus useful in combating most nosocomial infections more, so that arise from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Johnson et al., 2017).

Labor is a very stressful event in almost every woman that is pregnant, and therefore aromatherapy has proved to be useful especially when synchronized with massage and music. A study conducted in 2017 revealed that this procedure helped to reduce the necessity to use analgesics during the second stage of labor (Johnson et al., 2017). Studies show that aromatherapy functions to focus on specific symptoms that demand use of analgesia or antispasmodics thus aiding to eradicate fear, boost mood and at the same time increase contractions of the uterus to facilitate spontaneous vaginal delivery (Johnson et al., 2017).

Nausea; different researches have been carried out in the field of aromatherapy to help manage nausea in pregnant women. Most researches have revealed that use of peppermint, ginger and citrus peels or blends of the above mentioned essential oils helps to in tackling the challenge of morning sickness and nausea in women who are expectant (CCAP et al., 2014).

Analgesia; a variety of essential oils combination use many days prior to labor helps to reduce the need for analgesia to control labor pains. Lavender use increased the pain threshold in women making them feel reduced pain compared to those women that don’t use it during the pregnancy period (CCAP et al., 2014).

Episiotomy healing; research conducted among over 100 women who were in their first pregnancy and who had had a spontaneous vaginal delivery without any other chronic or acute disease. They were randomly then allocated into two group, the aromatherapy group, and the control group. Those women in the control group were given povidone iodine while those in the aromatherapy group used lavender oil. The assessment that was done after ten days showed that majority of those women in the aromatherapy group verbalized no pain as compared to their counterparts in the control group (CCAP et al., 2014).

Comfort; comfort methods through education of childbearing mothers by starting childbirth classes gives mothers more sense of control during labor times. A massage on the back by use of essential oils from eucalyptus, peppermint or rose helped to impart comfort to women both prepartum and postpartum.

Labor and delivery; better sleep and rest and decreasing of anxiety can be promoted by the use of rose essential oils (CCAP et al., 2014). This oil can also be helpful by reducing the respiration rate, decreasing the systole blood pressure and thus inducing a calming effect that ensures more relaxation that encourages better sleep rest pattern. Clary sage is also used to increase uterine contractions to enhance delivery and also decrease depression.

Infertility; cypress and geranium help to decrease anxiety and thus facilitate conception in women. These essential oils have also been used to successfully make periods in females more regular thus also improving fertility. They have also been successfully used to treat postpartum blues in women that have given birth.

Effects of aromatherapy to the body

Essential oils have that capability of to treat an unknown complex ways which only the body can comprehend and respond to when the need arises. There are eight domains in which these essential oils affect the body to bring a therapeutic response.

Congenital domain; essential oils help to correct complications that occur during pregnancy by correcting the ill consequences of DNA that have been altered or destroyed.

Organic domain; in this domain, all the body organs are made to function at their optimum by the essential oils thus helping the body orientate towards achieving good health.

Bioelectronics domain; the essential oils have the capacity to appropriately balance the body’s PH, improve the body’s electrical resistance and help decrease oxidation of body fluids thus helping to make the body environment inhabitable to pathogens that manage to colonize the body.

Microbial domain; this domain encompasses both the flora and fauna that exist in our body including pathogens as well as useful bacteria. Most of the body systems are colonized with both useful and harmful bacteria especially the gut and this essential oils function to kill this unwanted pathogen while sparing the useful ones selectively (Johnson et al., 2017).

Immunity domain, here the essential oils serve to boost the immune system of the body while at the same time moderating it to help assist the body in mounting immune responses useful in fighting infections, pain or disease.

Glandular domain; in the body is a system of the gland that works in harmony or antagonistically to help the body function properly and in the fight against the disease. These body glands help influence the body to grow, heal, and moderation of body systems responses either directly or indirectly.

Conclusion

Though there is no substantial evidence to that aromatherapy should be used as a complementary approach to treating stress or depressive episodes more research studies are required to legitimize the use of this approach by caregivers to treat depression. Recent studies have depicted that aromatherapy coupled with massage gives better patient outcomes in the treatment of depression as compared to inhalational aromatherapy. In wholesome studies have revealed that aromatherapy modality has been successful in treating stress-related symptoms and with progressive education to caregivers in this field the future is bright in the treatment of stress-related disorders.