Nursing diagnosis "altered energy field"

Jolie, BSN · Jan 17, 2006

I'm sorry if you view my post as an attack. To use a sixth graders poor attempt to put down TT is one founded in a non-scientific approach. And you did do just that. And if you had done a little more research, you would have found:
1. the sixth grader didn't do her own research, which was highly questionable
2. several adults did, which was also not very scientific
3. their attempt was an extremely poor one.
4. the sixth grader's mother was a member of a known quack organization, whose own research is highly suspect.
All I suggested was that one look into the research that has been done, both in support and against the validity of TT. There are several articles, which used the scientific model to validate, the use of TT. And while I do not have the titles of the articles or journals handy, a review of the literature will provide them.
Grannynurse:balloons:

I used that example to cite the healthy skepticism of a young teen, as a contrast to the unquestioning faith many adults have in unproven treatment modalities.

We can both locate research of varying quality to support our arguments. What I have yet to see is proof that an energy field exists.

Until that proof is presented, let us call TT what it is: time spent one on one with a patient. We all know that is beneficial.

leslie :-D · Jan 18, 2006

i'm not getting the impression that tt and energy fields are synonymous.

as for the nsg dx re alt energy fields, i do believe that to be targeted more to the holistic nurses who are experienced in alternative therapies.

as for the success of tt, that too is subjective but believe is quantifiable.

some people love being touched, others do not.

i have given back rubs and noticed a decrease in vitals, less tension and the pt statement of feeling so much better.

a friendly rub on the head can work wonders; a pat on the hand/leg; holding their hand; it doesn't take much to make that 'connection' and i find it therapeutic to most.

just as 'pet therapy' is known to assist in those who are depressed- it's the concept of touch and response that makes me a firm believer in tt.

but again, alt energy field is out of our expertise, unless one has been specifically trained, therefore would never use it in my care plan.

leslie

SFCardiacRN · Jan 18, 2006

Energy field disturbance was included due to a very vocal minority insisting on it. The majority caved in to this head strong bunch. It is obviously meaningless as it cannot be seen, touched, measured, or even described adequately. Listed symptoms, treatments and outcomes all have legitimate models that have nothing to do with energy fields. IMHO

paphgrl · Jan 18, 2006

i'm not getting the impression that tt and energy fields are synonymous.
as for the nsg dx re alt energy fields, i do believe that to be targeted more to the holistic nurses who are experienced in alternative therapies.
as for the success of tt, that too is subjective but believe is quantifiable.
some people love being touched, others do not.
i have given back rubs and noticed a decrease in vitals, less tension and the pt statement of feeling so much better.
a friendly rub on the head can work wonders; a pat on the hand/leg; holding their hand; it doesn't take much to make that 'connection' and i find it therapeutic to most.
just as 'pet therapy' is known to assist in those who are depressed- it's the concept of touch and response that makes me a firm believer in tt.
but again, alt energy field is out of our expertise, unless one has been specifically trained, therefore would never use it in my care plan.
leslie

Actually, theraputic touch does not involve actually touching the patient at all.

Very different from massage, where there is physical contact between practitioner and pt.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 18, 2006

One of my favorite nursing school instructors once threatened to put any care plans submitted to her containing this dx straight into the trash can ... :rotfl:
To answer llg's point ... no, I don't scoff at pts' spiritual, religious or philosophical beliefs & practices which may be employed as adjuncts to standard, accepted medical practice. What makes me very uneasy is the thought of nurses "crossing the line," so to speak, into this territory in their role as professional nurses. IMO, it could marginalize our profession.
I have not looked at any of the links provided by VickyRN & Siri ... will explore those later.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. I was not trying to be argumentative or anything when I posed my questions and I am happy to see that you responded without taking it that way.

I can't say that I "believe in" a lot of the foundations behind some of the alternative modalities ... but I know that some of those beliefs form the foundations of a lot of the world's spiritual beliefs. Just as I don't want to belittle the beliefs of Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, etc. ... I wouldn't want to belittle the beliefs of those whose spirituality has an energy foundation.

That puts me in a quandry regarding the alternative modalities. A lot of nurses routinely participate in religious rituals such as prayer, baptism, etc. Many hospitals have chaplain services that offer "a blessing of the hands" and/or other religious services in the hospital setting. How do we, as nurses, help people of other religious persuasions feel equally welcome, respected, and cared for? I don't know.

Perhaps NANDA should include the "altered energy field" topic as a sub-category of the "spiritual distress" diagnosis.

Thanks again,

llg

SaderNurse05, BSN, RN · Jan 18, 2006

I think therapeutic touch (like massage) can and should be used in care plans, but the use of "energy fields" undermines our profession. It is simply too abstract, unless they have come out with an energy field monitor I don't know about:chuckle

tencat · Jan 18, 2006

I think the diagnosis does undermine nursing's respectability factor. Someone who is skeptical about the validity of nursing as a science can use that one diagnosis to discredit the whole idea that nursing is really a serious profession that merits respect from other members of the medical community and the public at large. As others have said, there is no scientific measurement of what constitutes 'energy field'. Until that can be quantified, I think the diagnosis should be rescinded. It just plain makes nursing look foolish.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 18, 2006

This wasn't a nursing diagnosis when I was in school..........in fact, I never even heard of it until now. "Altered energy field"---it sounds about as far away from anything even resembling real science as you can get, evoking visions of mysterious rituals and burning incense and chanting. While all of these can certainly be involved in healing---and I don't dismiss their value to patients who believe in those things---NANDA makes a mockery of our profession by attempting to call this sort of thing science. Good grief. :uhoh3:

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 18, 2006

I guess I'm not doing a good job of making my thoughts clear here. I firmly believe that the "laying on of hands", "therapeutic touch", massage, etc. are of great benefit to patients, and too often lacking in the nursing care of most patients.
What I question is the notion that any of this is related to a practitioner's manipulation of an "energy field". THAT is what I want to see researched and substantiated and incorporated into evidence-based practice.
Instead of developing new and questionable nursing diagnoses that support the referral of a patient to a TT or Reiki practitioner, why not advocate for adequate nurse:patient ratios that allow the NURSE to perform hands-on care?

Good point and well taken.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 18, 2006

NANDA makes a mockery of our profession by attempting to call this sort of thing science. Good grief.

It's not saying it's a science, just a diagnosis with nursing interventions. However, there are nurses, many on this board, myself leaning that way, who think nursing should only be based on science and fact.

But this is only a set of nursing interventions, not rocket science.

zenman · Jan 18, 2006

This wasn't a nursing diagnosis when I was in school..........in fact, I never even heard of it until now. "Altered energy field"---it sounds about as far away from anything even resembling real science as you can get, evoking visions of mysterious rituals and burning incense and chanting. While all of these can certainly be involved in healing---and I don't dismiss their value to patients who believe in those things---NANDA makes a mockery of our profession by attempting to call this sort of thing science. Good grief.

I'll just quote you since you're near the end of the thread. I'm a nurse who practices both Western and Eastern modalities. There is a reason more people are switching from Western medicine and it is amazing to me that people spend so many years and money learning a field which is now so far behind the sciences. It is also amazing to me that people can't find the thousands of cited studies about this very subject. The NIH even studies "alternative" medicine. Basically if you have trouble with this concept, and the field of Quantum Physics, you need to throw your cell phone away and please don't send patients to get an MRI because they can't possibly exist!

danu3 · Jan 18, 2006

That puts me in a quandry regarding the alternative modalities. A lot of nurses routinely participate in religious rituals such as prayer, baptism, etc. Many hospitals have chaplain services that offer "a blessing of the hands" and/or other religious services in the hospital setting. How do we, as nurses, help people of other religious persuasions feel equally welcome, respected, and cared for? I don't know.
Perhaps NANDA should include the "altered energy field" topic as a sub-category of the "spiritual distress" diagnosis.
Thanks again,
llg

Actually the whole "energy" concept actually do have deep Eastern spirituality roots, it is more appropriate to place it under "spiritual distress". The potential problem with this now is that you are going to start placing all different spiritual techniques (both East and West) under it also (including the different types of prayers, meditation, all different kinds of spiritual rituals, you name it).

At least the way I am thinking now... I think just Spiritual Distress is good enough and leave it up to the nurse to decide the appropriate actions. So if a nurse has in deapth training or life experience in certain spiritual areas and it matches the patient (e.g. you don't want to force prayer on an atheist or chant a Easter mantra with certain Christian traditions), then by all means implemnet it. If the nurse does not have the spiritual capacity to match the patient, then s/he can try to contact someone who can match it.

I guess someone who has expertise in medical anthropology or nursing anthropology would probably can throw some light on this subject. The reason is that we are dealing with different model of looking at illnesses and health.

A side question is how do we as nurses translate the concepts in the Western medical and nursing model to people who grows up with an Eastern model (energy being one of the concepts) in a way that respect their culture but at the same time not get in the way of treatment. As a concret example, growing up Chinese myself, I myself run into problem trying to explain concepts between a Western doctor and my parent's generation. Beside the energy concept, there are things like "wind" and "fire" and other things. The concept of "pain" is also a real pain (pun intented) because the descriptions are different like there is a "sour" pain which has no translation over to Western concept of pain.

Another more generic question which may be helpful is what makes a diagnosis a good diagnosis? What are some of the criteria? Apply it to all nursing diagnosis.

Another question is what will it add to nursing by including the "alterned energy field"? All the symptoms associated with "altered energy field" - Will another model explains it just as well or even better?