Reiki in Hospitals: Cancer Patients, Hospice Care & Nurses

Reiki in Hospitals- Cancer Patients

Three of the most prestigious cancer hospitals  in  the USA, as ranked by US News, are: (i) MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas; (ii) Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York; (iii) Mayo Clinic, Minnesota . All three of these hospitals offer Reiki to their patients.

MD Anderson Cancer Center is ranked No. 1 and their Integrative Medicine Center provides holistic  treatments  in  which the mental, spiritual and emotional needs of  the  patient are provided.

Founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is ranked No. 2. Their Integrative Medicine Service offers acupuncture, personal training, nutrition and dietary supplement counseling, massage, and mind-body therapies (where Reiki is included). Their goal is to soothe and alleviate symptoms such as pain, muscle tension, post­ operative discomfort, musculoskeletal problems, anxiety, depression, insomnia, stress, and fatigue.

Mayo Clinic is ranked No. 3 in Cancer Hospitals. Mayo Clinic has also focused on a holistic approach, including the spiritual and emotional conflicts and needs that might arise during treatment. Reiki practitioners provide volunteer services to patients at both Mayo Clinic Hospital campuses and some outpatient areas.

Reiki for Hospice Care

Reiki is particularly effective for patients undergoing pal­liative and/or hospice care. The International Association of Reiki Practitioners states on its website (iarp.org/reiki-for-hospice-and-home-health-care):

“As a complementary treatment, Reiki is becoming more and more popular in the spheres of hospice, palliative and home care.”

According to the Merlene Bullock, RN BSN, Case Manager, Hospice of the Valley, Phoenix, Arizona, USA (Bullock, 1997), Reiki has been associated with improved quality of life in palliative situations:

Some general trends seen with Reiki include : periods of stabilization in which there is time to enjoy the last days of one’s life; a peaceful and calm passing if death is imminent; and relief from pain, anxiety, dyspnea (shortness of breath) and edema. Reiki is a valuable complement in supporting patients in their end-of-life journey, enhancing the quality of their remaining days.

Pamela Miles, Reiki Master, educator and author, who has consulted with hospital administrators about integrating Reiki practice into clinical care, says:

Caring family members can learn Reiki as easily as the palliative patient can. Caregivers experience stress and the first thing taught in Reiki Level 1 is self-care. This ability can be used to care for the palliative patient, thereby making the family member “feel useful” (Miles, 2003) .

In 2012, the Penn Wissahickon Hospice, part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, tested a volunteer Reiki program for its effectiveness in a hospice setting. Ellen Inglesby-Deering, a volunteer coordinator, commented:

It’s very exciting. I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from patients, families and volunteers.

A volunteer mentioned a patient with advanced dementia who giggled after the treatment and then started having a conversation with her daughter. The daughter later com­mented that she had not been able to have a conversation this beneficial with her mother in over a year. The Reiki program for hospice care is still active as judged by the online requests for more Reiki volunteers.

A small study was performed at Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA (Connor and Anadarajah, 2017) to explore the experiences of hospice patients and their caregivers who received Reiki .

Three major themes emerged:

1. Trust plays an important role in both trying Reiki and experiencing benefits.
2. Sensations are felt in the body during Reiki; notable similarities in descriptions included somatic sensations (arising from skin, muscles, joints, etc.), temperature changes and visual sensations.
3. Some symptoms are relieved by Reiki, the most common being anxiety. Others include: pain, agitation, nausea, and insomnia. Participants reported no side effects. It was concluded that although symptom management in hospice patients remains a challenge, Reiki has the potential to serve as a useful adjunctive therapy in treating several symptoms, particularly anxiety.

Effects of Self-Reiki Practice on Nurses

Hospital nurses often practice Reiki on themselves because they find it to be a very effective tool for maintaining general well-being. Nurses who are taught Reiki experience immediate stress relief and relaxation after just a few min­utes of self-treatment while on the job (Brathovde 2006, 2017; Cuneo et al., 2011).

Brathvode’s study ofReiki as a self-care practice among nurses demonstrated that the nurses who participated increased their self-care and caring towards others after Reiki education . In Cuneo’s study, 26 nurses completed a perceived stress assessment questionnaire and were then taught Reiki Level 1. After 21 days of Reiki self-practice, they repeated the questionnaire. There was a statistically significant decrease in their perceived stress. Further analysis of the results indicated that the more self-Reiki was performed, regardless of the degree of reported stress of the participant, the more effective self-Reiki was in sup­ porting stress reduction. Common comments after Reiki self-practice were: slept better, felt relaxed/calm/peaceful, felt warm/hot.

Whelan and  Wishnia  (2003)  studied  the  experiences of nurses who were already trained in Reiki and who practiced Reiki on their clients . As Reiki practitioners, these nurses also concurrently received the benefits of Reiki themselves. More than 75% reported satisfaction with the time they spent with patients, were less affected by environmental stress, experienced increased intuition and insight, and noticed a significant decrease in feelings that contribute to burnout. In addition, 75% felt they had helped clients in the healing process by bringing relaxation and calmness to the clients. However, 37.5% also reported a perceived disadvantage of practicing Reiki: decreased credibility with nursing and medical professionals despite research that demonstrated Reiki’s efficacy (Whelan and Wishnia, 2003) .

Vitale (2009) interviewed 11 registered nurses who were also Reiki practitioners to determine how they thought they benefited from Reiki self-practice. The nurses reported that they firstly used Reiki to relax because it promoted an immediate relaxation response . They said that they felt more energized and less tired after self-Reiki use and also mentioned that they would gain a clearer perspective on an issue, after which they would feel calm.

According to the article author, Anne Vitale, herself also a nurse:

“The ability to quickly restore the self to a tran­quil state and awareness to shifting back into a centered state are essential for nurses working in today’s healthcare environments.”[ … ] “The nurses in this study report that the use of Reiki in self-care is useful for daily and workday stress management.”

Summary

Overall, the anecdotal and clinical data obtained from Reiki programs in hospitals show that patients receiving Reiki experience enhanced relaxation and well-being, as well as reduced sensations of anxiety and pain. These responses are an essential part of the healing process and are con­ sistent with findings from the published, peer-reviewed, scientific data. Of course, the comments and data obtained from hospital patients can be criticized because there was no systematic comparison made with patients in similar conditions who did not receive Reiki, or  with  patients who received frequent visitation from a friend or family member who was not a Reiki practitioner but offered them comfort. Perhaps it is not the Reiki that is improving their well-being, but just the presence of a caring person who pays them attention. This is known as the “placebo effect”. The placebo effect definitely contributes to Reiki’s success, but there are currently nine placebo-controlled studies that demonstrate Reiki’s beneficial effects are statistically significantly greater than can be explained just by the placebo effect. Obviously, more high-quality placebo-controlled studies are needed that address the effects of Reiki on a variety of clinical conditions, but as shown by the analysis of the quality of Reiki research studies presented earlier, the evidence so far is heavily weighted in support of Reiki as an effective therapy. Of course, there are skeptics who carefully handpick the negative studies and ignore the positive results.

This article is an excerpt from Reiki in Clinical Practice  by Amy Baldwin (copyright Handspring Publishing, 2020). Available at: https://terrarosa.com.au/product/books/energy-therapy-books/reiki-in-clinical-practice/