Throughout my first semester of nursing I have been exposed to a multi-disciplinary approach to the care I can offer my patients. An alternative practice that really stood out to me was the use of therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch uses touch and massage to help in relaxation and healing of the patient. I think massage can be a beneficial tool when used in conjunction with mainstream medicine to achieve optimal overall well being for the patient. I also think that therapeutic touch allows for the nurse and patient to build a stronger therapeutic relationship which is essential in good nursing care. It creates a more open channel between nurse and client. A client must drop their guard and be comfortable enough to allow a nurse to practice therapeutic touch. I think it also allows for a deeper connection because when the patient is relaxed and comforted by the nurses touch they become more comfortable with the nurse. Therapeutic touch or massage has the ability to make a person more physically comfortable but it can also help a person to feel emotionally more at ease. Massaging can help a person to destress which can help the mind relax as well as the body.
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Very well written Jill! I find myself interesting in massage more and more!
ReplyDeleteSorry, the use of unvalidated practices such as Therapeutic Touch (TT) in nursing can only destroy nurse-patient relationships. It is unethical to offer as therapeutic a practice that has not demonstrated benefits (as well as determined any risks). If a nurse offers as beneficial something that has not been demonstrated by science as beneficial, then that nurse is doing nothing less than using patients as guinea pigs. That nurse also robs her patients of their right to informed consent.
ReplyDeleteTT research has woefully poor outcomes. The better the research, the less effect. And this once panacea has been reduced to treating soft symptoms, such as tension.
So what would fully informing a patient about TT sound like: "TT that claims to change an energy field around the body. This notion is an old one, coming out of “vitalism” folk medicine. Science hasn't demonstrated the existence of any such field, but practitioners belief they can feel this energy field with their hands. Only flawed research has shown any beneficial clinical results beyond the placebo effect. As a matter of fact a school girl in Colorado showed that TT practitioners can't reliably feel this energy field, although they claim to do so everyday, and they would need to be able to feel it in order to manipulate it. Licensed nurses must by most states’ law practice only science-based medicine, so if you request TT, I will have to call in a TT practitioner for you.”
Also consider this. TT came on the scene during the first onset of the AIDS epidemic. How much of its popularity might have been based on nurses’ fear of touching their patients?