[brian]

SAN DIEGO -- Employees at Scripps Green Hospital are getting touchy with patients -- and it's getting good results.

The hospital is now using certified healing touch therapists to give patients a hand before surgery and the results are grabbing the attention of medical experts.

The ``laying on'' of hands to heal someone from an illness dates back to biblical times but is getting a modern spin at the hospital, where doctors prescribe touch therapy to patients preparing for surgery.

For instance, 79-year-old Edith Taylor has had at least five stents inserted in her body in the last eight years and before and after every operation, she has a 10-minute touch session with a therapist like Elizabeth Fraser, who is also a registered nurse.``It's a very light touch, we do things like balancing our chakras, opening them for the patient clearing their electric magnetic field,'' Fraser said.

It's not a massage. Sometimes hands hover above the body and don't actually make contact.

Full Story: Hospitals Letting Nurses Get Touchy With Patients [NBC Sandiego.com,CA]

[Jolie]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but here I go again!

If hospitals simply staffed adequate numbers of nurses, I seriously doubt that these "ancillary" services would be necessary. I imagine that having the undivided attention of an RN for 10 minutes prior to going into surgery would be a tremendous relief for most patients, lessening the need for anti-anxiety medications, etc. Similarly, having the unhurried attention of a nurse postoperatively (who could provide simple comfort measures such as a backrub while doing patient teaching) would probably result in fewer requests for pain medication.

Anyone up for studying this?

[PANurseRN1]

I agree. Just the other week I was getting a pt. ready for surgery. The OR time was bumped, and I was very rushed, trying to do things with the crew standing there...waiting. The pt. wound up bursting into tears, she was so stressed. If I could have had five minutes to just calm her, it would have made things so much better, but I simply did not have the time. I tried to talk to her as I was doing things, but that's not the same as giving someone your undivided attention. Even three minutes would have been great.

Instead, this pt. went off to surgery in tears.

[mobilsurgrn]

Not only will I study it but as of Novermber 1, I will be living it.

We are building a hospital around the belief that there is some value in intergrative therapies such as touch, yoga, raki, meditation, accupuncture and other methods that have been employed in eastern medicine for hundreds of thousands of years.

Our belief is that people deserve the best of traditional western medicine from state-of-the-art diagnostic tools such as MRI, CT, PET, digital mammography, IMRT, and image guided surgery. All of the physicians involved are fellowship trained, board certified, U.S. trained- M.D.s and are the best of the best. They will provide diagnosis and treatment of breast disease in a 24-bed hospital. All of the specialties- radiology, surgery, oncology, pathology, genetics, will be located in one MOB that is connected to the hospital. If a woman (or man) has an abnormal mammogram, they can get a diagnosis and be seen by the entire care team wihout leaving the building. Patients will be shephered through the process by nurses who are trained specfically to counsel and answer questions along the way.

But we believe that during and after phyisical healing, some patients want and need some of the spiritual (not religious) modalities as well. The thought is that for some patients the body can't heal to if the mind and spirit aren't connected to the healing.

This project is the result of a life's work by breast surgeon, Dr. Beth DuPree. She has written a great book on the subject, The Healing Consciousness. She developped the model as she watched patients cured that sat and waited for their cancer to return. It's about providing quality of life without relying soley on prescriptions for Ativan and Lunesta.

The hospital will be located in Bensalem, PA, just outside of Philadelphia.

I will post from time to time about the successes and shortfalls as the model evolves.

[suebird3]

The idea of "Mind over Matter" is serious stuff. This whole thing sounds good.

Suebird

[Jolie]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

Not only will I study it but as of Novermber 1, I will be living it.

We are building a hospital around the belief that there is some value in intergrative therapies such as touch, yoga, raki, meditation, accupuncture and other methods that have been employed in eastern medicine for hundreds of thousands of years.

Our belief is that people deserve the best of traditional western medicine from state-of-the-art diagnostic tools such as MRI, CT, PET, digital mammography, IMRT, and image guided surgery. All of the physicians involved are fellowship trained, board certified, U.S. trained- M.D.s and are the best of the best. They will provide diagnosis and treatment of breast disease in a 24-bed hospital. All of the specialties- radiology, surgery, oncology, pathology, genetics, will be located in one MOB that is connected to the hospital. If a woman (or man) has an abnormal mammogram, they can get a diagnosis and be seen by the entire care team wihout leaving the building. Patients will be shephered through the process by nurses who are trained specfically to counsel and answer questions along the way.

But we believe that during and after phyisical healing, some patients want and need some of the spiritual (not religious) modalities as well. The thought is that for some patients the body can't heal to if the mind and spirit aren't connected to the healing.

This project is the result of a life's work by breast surgeon, Dr. Beth DuPree. She has written a great book on the subject, The Healing Consciousness. She developped the model as she watched patients cured that sat and waited for their cancer to return. It's about providing quality of life without relying soley on prescriptions for Ativan and Lunesta.

The hospital will be located in Bensalem, PA, just outside of Philadelphia.

I will post from time to time about the successes and shortfalls as the model evolves.

Thanks for your input! I've read about the upcoming opening of this hospital, and find it very interesting. Having survived a cancer diagnosis (not breast, though), and having survived treatment at HUP, which was almost as trying as the diagnosis itself, I can fully appreciate the desire and need for such a facility.

My question is a little different, though. I am interested in studies that compare the experiences of patients on standard nursing units with standard (read inadequate) RN staffing who are offered alternative services versus patients on standard nursing units with enhanced RN staffing who are not offered alternative services. I'm betting that those who receive excellent, unhurried nursing care would be just as satisfied as those who have access to alternative services.

[Katnip]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

Not only will I study it but as of Novermber 1, I will be living it.

We are building a hospital around the belief that there is some value in intergrative therapies such as touch, yoga, raki, meditation, accupuncture and other methods that have been employed in eastern medicine for hundreds of thousands of years.

Our belief is that people deserve the best of traditional western medicine from state-of-the-art diagnostic tools such as MRI, CT, PET, digital mammography, IMRT, and image guided surgery. All of the physicians involved are fellowship trained, board certified, U.S. trained- M.D.s and are the best of the best. They will provide diagnosis and treatment of breast disease in a 24-bed hospital. All of the specialties- radiology, surgery, oncology, pathology, genetics, will be located in one MOB that is connected to the hospital. If a woman (or man) has an abnormal mammogram, they can get a diagnosis and be seen by the entire care team wihout leaving the building. Patients will be shephered through the process by nurses who are trained specfically to counsel and answer questions along the way.

But we believe that during and after phyisical healing, some patients want and need some of the spiritual (not religious) modalities as well. The thought is that for some patients the body can't heal to if the mind and spirit aren't connected to the healing.

This project is the result of a life's work by breast surgeon, Dr. Beth DuPree. She has written a great book on the subject, The Healing Consciousness. She developped the model as she watched patients cured that sat and waited for their cancer to return. It's about providing quality of life without relying soley on prescriptions for Ativan and Lunesta.

The hospital will be located in Bensalem, PA, just outside of Philadelphia.

I will post from time to time about the successes and shortfalls as the model evolves.

Sounds wonderful. I wish I lived closer.

[prmenrs]

I don't think it has to do w/staffing, Jolie, it sounds like they have a nurse doing therapeutic touch--she may be outside of the staffing numbers. Like going to different units for this intervention.

[Mama J]

I Am A newbie here but just had to comment. My last two years of CEU'S have been dedicated to Healing Touch. It is another world of healing and results are always positive. Using the energy that is all around us for the healing and well being of others-- What a GREAT IDEA!!!

[purpledolfin214]

I agree that healing touch can impact a patient in a positive way. Drugs are important but we can't fortget the other aspects involved with healing. I live by the wholistic aproach to healing. God gave us many resources for healing and we should take advantage of these. I will second the theory of mind over matter. As a nursing student, it takes a lot of focus and determination to finish nursing school. There is a lot to be said about the mental push. Well, now you have my imput...hehe. Hope all the nursing students out there are recuperating for another exciting semester!