Hospitals with Reiki nurses

[Intuitivenurse]

I'm a 13 year LTAC nurse who is trying to make a transition to holistic health/nursing. I was an AHNA member and went to conference last year (it was wonderful!) but with my youngest going off to college in a few months I wasn't able to afford it this year. I learned at conference that there were hospitals that have begun nurse-initiated Reiki programs and that lead me to learn more about it and become a Reiki master myself. I absolutely love it and what can happen to people when they are empowered to take control of their own health. I've been planning to travel nurse for as long as I can remember once my kids were out of the house, and now am conflicted since the allopathic paradigm no longer aligns with my personal beliefs.

I guess my question I'd like to know is if anyone has worked as a reiki practitioner in a hospital, how was/is it, and where do you think we're going as a society with this? Is it possible to be a holistic nurse in a hospital setting or will I need to start my own business, (which I've started actually but still have a burning desire to travel!)

Basically I want to start a conversation with like-minded nurses and see if there's any interest or knowledge out there ... any adventurers interested in joining forces and possibly starting a traveling holistic nurse agency or some other kind of business ...possibly pitching a nurse-initiated reiki (and/or other holistic healing modality) program (thinking VA initially). Anyway, love to hear what wisdom and thoughts you awesome holistic nurses have on the matter .... thanks in advance!

[tinyRN72, BSN]

Wow, I just came to the Holistic Nursing section and it doesn't seem to be too active. I am (sort of) in a similar situation, and I wanted to see what others are doing. I am currently working on my BSN, this is so that I can get certified in either Holistic Nursing or Nurse Coaching. I really want to go into private practice, if you would call it that. My husband and I dream of owning a holistic wellness center and I plan to do meditation, possibly reiki, aromatherapy, and other things. I can find places now where I can go and do these things and I'm trying to figure out if I really need the certification. In the nursing world, yes, it says a lot, but to the general public? I'm not sure they care.

Also, I have been travel nursing for several years. It is quite fun and I recommend it highly. Just be aware that the "travelers" sometimes get beat up a bit. You might get the toughest patients a lot, you will float before anyone else on the unit - things like that. It is just part of it. I would still be traveling if I didn't plan to open a business, which you can't really do from the road.

I am also wondering about reiki vs Healing Touch. Do you have any thoughts?

I did work in 1 hospital that had healing touch nurses visit oncology patients. This was done on a volunteer basis. I have never seen a hospital actually pay nurses to do this. Have you? I would love to find a way to do Holistic work while getting my own company off the ground, but I have not been able to find a path in my area for it. Not in a healthcare setting.

[holisticpedsRN]

Hi there! There aren't a lot of mainstream programs that pay for nurses to do Reiki or Healing Touch at the bedside...yet...but there is growing interest and support for it. I know there is a program at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego where RNs circulate through the hospitals each day, for fours hours, paid at their normal nurses hourly, performing Healing Touch on patients, families, and staff. Had an interesting conversation with an RN who relocated to California from NY. She was a paid holistic nurse in a NY hospital where they offered a variety of services including guided imagery, mindfulness, and bioenergetic work. I'm trained in Healing Touch, Level 1, and provide it to my patients at the bedside but I have to fit it around my normal nursing tasks and sometimes there isn't time. It took a LOT of work, years actually, to get a hospital policy in place allowing us to do Healing Touch on patients and our goal is to eventually get a program in place like the one at Rady's...but its slow going and finding funding is always the biggest challenge. We've just started a Healing Touch Unit Committee to try and promote/coordinate services and we have about 60 Healing Touch trained nurses hospital-wide through a grant we received. It takes a ton of effort and creativity and dedication but I do believe it's worth it. I've heard of Healing Touch being referred to as "Reiki for Nurses." The nice thing about Healing Touch is the system was developed by an RN and is very easily translated to the bedside because it uses the nursing process applied to various bioenergetic systems. Reiki principles are incorporated into Healing Touch, but there are a lot of other systems used as well. I was actually a massage therapist before becoming an RN, and never thought I'd get into energy work. I thought it was just to "woo-woo" but the practice has pulled me in and I really think there's so much we don't understand in this field. It's been fascinating learning and experiencing it! Most of the time I have no idea why it works, but it works so I use it as a tool to help my patients find relief.