Adderall or Intune?

I'm an RN at one of the two largest healthcare organizations in southwest Wisconsin. I am a member on the council that guides outpatient nursing practice across the system. We get to help create and direct process improvement to make care delivery more efficient and more standardized. We're the sounding board for new proposals that may change nursing practice. Basically our job is to fix problems, and troubleshoot new initiatives. Today was our monthly meeting. First on the agenda? The integrative health nurse came to discuss essential oils!

The inpatient world has been using EO's for a few years. Patients recovering from surgery may have toes anointed with lemongrass or lavendar for pain control, the nauseated may have cottonballs dabbed with ginger taped to their hospital gown. People coming off nicotine from not being able to smoke in the hospital are being treated effectively with black pepper. The use of oils has gained more traction as nurses see success stories, and patients opt for more natural remedies before immediately jumping for medicinal ones.

I work with children, from one day old through college graduate. A good part of my day is working with children with ADHD, behavior disorders, autism spectrum disorders, mental health disorders, and the traditional western medicine cure is always a visit to the pharmacy. Sometimes drugs work, a lot of the time they create other problems. Many parents want another alternative. Some parents agonize over having few alternatives but to chemically scramble the way their child's brain receives and reacts to stimulation. These parents want another way.

What if essential oils gained more respect as a complementary method of treating these disorders? What if they were trialed before drugs? Certainly plenty of oilers who are treating their own children would attest that there is improvement in symptoms, sometimes even complete control of symptoms. For those for whom oils alone isn't enough, maybe oils help that child deal with the side effects instead of prescribing a second and even third drug to manage those? Maybe oils prevents the need for increasing dosages? There are so many possibilities!

Its something I am pondering bringing forth to our department's leadership. I am fortunate to work with physicians and nurse practitioners who truly care about the health and well being of their patients, so we'll see if they are ready to expand their treatment repertoire to include essential oils!