does therapeutic touch belong in grad programs?

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to me, it's the ultimate measure of desperation on the part of nurses to develop independence from physicians. that it has been turned into a "science" demeans the nursing profession terribly!

while there can be certainly a psychological/placebo effect, the seriousness with which even some phd's in nursing believe in literal truth of therapeutic touch simply amazes me.

it's witchcraft. sheer absolute nonsense in its highest refined form. the techniques are quite laughable, and have no place in medicine, any more than folk remedies supplied by witch doctors.

yet at virtually every major university, there are ladies with phd's running around who literally believe they've developed these powers in their hands. that they can "ruffle" and "realign" forces.

to many, this is the holy grail of nursing. to me, it's delusionary.

comments?

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I'm surprised to hear you say that it's a common phenomenon -- I thought TT had been completely discredited years ago. If it's any comfort :), I've been involved in the nursing programs of several "major universities" in various ways over the last several years, inc. one Ivy League school, and I've yet to encounter a TT practitioner.

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actually, that is a pleasant surprise. i met a phd who is huge on therapeutic touch at a large public university in florida. and many of the faculty support her and believe she has powers. it's actually tested as part of the curriculum.

perhaps my experience has been untypical. anyone else?

i'd agree that the evidence discredits it.

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Therapeutic touch took a huge hit in the mid-90's, when the findings of Emily Rosa's experiment (discrediting the tenets of TT) were published by JAMA.

The particularly damaging thing? Emily was 11 years old.

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Consumers are demanding alternative therapies, they will get them whether or not the medical establishment supports them. Personally, I don't feel the need for alternative care, but they are here to stay so why not have a nurse run the progam.

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We definitely have a responsibility to at least investigate any mode of treatment that might benefit our patients and I think that's especially true with non-surgical, non-pharmacologic treatments.

The problem though - most of the public is still reassured by research and scientific findings, so if we're going to be taken seriously as a profession, we have to pursue evidence-based practice. Many alternative therapies have not been studied under research conditions and we should encourage that so that we can offer (or not offer) those therapies with confidence.

Therapeutic touch is really in an unusual position though. TT has been studied and no one's been able to prove any benefit. On top of that, the supposedly scientific principles underlying it ("it's based on Einstein's theories") simply do not make sense.

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I'm surprised to hear you say that it's a common phenomenon -- I thought TT had been completely discredited years ago. If it's any comfort :), I've been involved in the nursing programs of several "major universities" in various ways over the last several years, inc. one Ivy League school, and I've yet to encounter a TT practitioner.

Well, hate to shock you further, but "that ivy" has a workshop or course on reiki, which is the updated version of TT. Lots of students there, esp in my program, are uncritically into alternative medicine, which I doubt will surprise you. Personally I feel there might be a beneficial placebo effect whenever a care provider spends time with a patient, whether they are actually touching them or not. Skeptic magazine had quite a few articles on TT and Emily Rosa and her experiments to debunk it.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
I'm surprised to hear you say that it's a common phenomenon -- I thought TT had been completely discredited years ago. If it's any comfort :), I've been involved in the nursing programs of several "major universities" in various ways over the last several years, inc. one Ivy League school, and I've yet to encounter a TT practitioner.

This is news to me also. I am not aware that therapeutic touch is a major part of any nursing curriculum at major universities, if it all. There is very little discussion of this particular form of therapy in the nursing community or literature so I think it's quite a stretch to say that it has been turned into a science.

What is true is that there is a growing demand for alternative and nonconventional medicine therapies from the public so I believe that there should be more research directed to this area.

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yes, there are women with doctorates who run around dressed like the grandmother witch on the television show "bewitched", who truly do assert that they're working miracles by realigning forces (none of which are scientifically measurable). questioning the validity causes their eyes to narrow in slits, they get so angry.

i challenged one to find some bodybuilding injuries, but she couldn't find injuries clearly edematous and hot to touch. of course, perhaps she didn't have the "unconditional love in her heart" for me that this hocus pocus requires. some of the believers present stated that it was my fault that she couldn't find them, because i "blocked" her energy.

if i were to sacrifice rats and patients had "apparent" benefits, does that mean that rat sacrifices work? should we be practicing voodoo, if a patient finds it beneficial?

i feel the real problem here is desperation to be an expert in a completely independent area. credible physicians won't touch this one, which makes it a safe domain for these nurses to rule the roost, unchallenged by medicine and science.

and yes, i too feel that patients benefit from caring and attention from nurses. that's our job. but this nonsense demeans the profession terribly.

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Hypothesis: the further you get from patient care and the more dependent you become on academia to support you in your ivory tower, the more you reach out towards Reiki (sp?), therapeutic touch and nursing theory to support your mere existence.

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This is news to me also. I am not aware that therapeutic touch is a major part of any nursing curriculum at major universities, if it all. There is very little discussion of this particular form of therapy in the nursing community or literature so I think it's quite a stretch to say that it has been turned into a science.

What is true is that there is a growing demand for alternative and nonconventional medicine therapies from the public so I believe that there should be more research directed to this area.

it's not a major part of any nursing curriculum, since it's mere fluff. how could it be more than a quiz or so? that it's part of the curriculum at all is the issue, and that faculty supports it as literal truth. pity the young, gullible nursing student.

i'd also say it's quite a stretch to term it science. the good witch herself told me it was the "science of therapeutic touch".

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
it's not a major part of any nursing curriculum, since it's mere fluff. how could it be more than a quiz or so? that it's part of the curriculum at all is the issue, and that faculty supports it as literal truth. pity the young, gullible nursing student.

i'd also say it's quite a stretch to term it science. the good witch herself told me it was the "science of therapeutic touch".

Oh so it was one faculty member? Well that's different. I would say that your experience is unusual. It was not a part of my graduate curriculum at all....

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