Posts
Who needs proof when you have a great story? Phil Galewitz did a piece in the USA Today about “healing touch”. These are thirty minute sessions where nurses guide their hands along a patient’s body parts. Sometimes their hands are a few inches above the patient. Sometimes their hands lightly touch the patient. More than 100 U.S. hospitals have started offering this service. Sounds great, right? I am sure it can’t hurt. Inherently, I believe that we are made up of an energy force so maybe it can be manipulated or adjusted. Here’s the problem: no clinical trials have shown it does anything. In other words, there is no proof it works.
Does that it mean it should be stopped? Who knows? However, in an era where evidence based medicine is changing everything we do as physicians, shouldn’t nurses be held to the same standard? This is not a knock on the nursing profession, either. You just can go around making claims on anecdotal evidence. For example, a buddy of mine swears by the “healing touch” he receives in a Vietnamese nail salon shop he frequents on a regular basis. Until it was raided by the police, I could have sworn it was doing wonders for his depression. For even more proof, now that his “healers” have been deported, his depression is even worse. Where is the USA Today when you need them to do a story on this medical phenomenon?
Does that it mean it should be stopped? Who knows? However, in an era where evidence based medicine is changing everything we do as physicians, shouldn’t nurses be held to the same standard? This is not a knock on the nursing profession, either. You just can go around making claims on anecdotal evidence. For example, a buddy of mine swears by the “healing touch” he receives in a Vietnamese nail salon shop he frequents on a regular basis. Until it was raided by the police, I could have sworn it was doing wonders for his depression. For even more proof, now that his “healers” have been deported, his depression is even worse. Where is the USA Today when you need them to do a story on this medical phenomenon?
6 comments:
What a crock, as one of my colleages would say, of yak butter! They probably bill for it and insurance pays for it. Most of my hospital patients would consider it a "heallng touch" of their call light got answered promptly and they weren't kept awake half the night by loud socializing in the hallways.
There are only a few nurses that do theraputic touch. There really no evidence based practice that I have found to support it. I am a nurse, and I will be happy to call the chaplain for prayer if I thought it would help a patient.
I seem to remember a 10 year old kid did a science project on this, which proved that it did not work. It was even published in JAMA.
There may not be evidence that it does work but then again is there any evidence that it hurts? If a nurse has time to do "theraputic touch",and her patient is willing, I say, go for it. We (yes, I'm an old nurse)have always given backrubs and still do where I work. Patients appreciate it so much. Does it make them well? No. Does it cause them any harm? Nope. We also pray with patients when asked and offer to call their ministers. Again, couldn't hurt. Do I think "theraputic touch" will help most of my patients? Uh,no. And frankly, in my neck of the woods, the patient's will think the nurse is "nuts" and decline the offer. But if neither one of them has a problem with it why should anyone else?
We are missing the point here on therapeutic touch, alternative medicine, chiropractic, etc. These areas are raking in the profits because they make people feel better. Really that is all the consumer that buys into this voodoo really wants. I don't think many really care if it really works. They think it does and it is marketed well so they buy it. We all know the physician that we think is a complete idiot but is good with people and makes them feel special and patients flock to them don't we? I have realized that a lot of times it is not the quality of care that we deliver - it is all in the delivery. If we can just provide a good product and deliver it good making people feel that they are special then the public will buy it. We need to continue evidence based medicine ethically but also deliver it and market it like alternative medicine does. We also need to waken up our law makers and stop the deceptive advertising these products make. We need to make them accountable like they make us and not allow them to say anything they want if they just put in little disclaimer letters "this product is not intended to cure, treat, or diagnose any illness". The FDA and other agencies have a hard on for our profession while turning a blind eye to the deception that unproven treatments claim. Well they don't really claim, but they really do, but don't. Everyone should be held to the same standard or they should not enforce any standard.
Sounds to me like this could be a case of "placebo effect".
I don't think that there should be any problem coming up with "evidence" for this treatment. In fact, once when I was working on a project, I amassed several resources supporting a procedure. However, when I dug a little deeper, to actually find the research that the articles were based on, I discovered that all of the articles (which, incidently were in nursing journals) came from 1 (count 'em, one)actual research project.
No, I'm not a nurse, and I don't play one at work.
Post a Comment