Integrative Nurse Coaching for Health and Wellness

ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES FEBRUARY 2012 The profession of nursing and the 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States are key figures, along with the broader community of health care providers, in reenvisioning the way health care is delivered in this country.1 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which became law in 2010 (H.R. 3590), has generated an enormous amount of debate and scrutiny regarding how health care is provided for in the United States.2 The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, in a study that covers the years 1987 to 2007, found that there are large swaths of the United States where life expectancy is either stagnating or decreasing. Girls born today, in one quarter of this country, may live a shorter life than their mothers. The IHME also cited the widening disparity among regions of the country, and the United States as a whole is lagging behind other industrialized countries in life expectancy.3 The challenges facing our health care system, one that is the most expensive in the world, has brought us to a place of both crisis and opportunity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost half the adult population of the United States—more than 133 million people—are living with at least one chronic disease, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and cancer. This fact accounts for 70% of deaths and 75% of health care costs.4 The United Health Group, Inc., a leading health insurer, released a report in November 2010 estimating that, by 2020, more than half of all Americans will be prediabetic, or have diabetes. The group estimated that this would be at a cost of $3.35 trillion to the U.S. health care system, if this trend is not addressed and modified.5