inPractice - Spring 2018 - 14

Hands-On
Healing :
REIKI IN

LANCASTER COUNTY
In the early days of nursing, much of the profession was focused
on comfort measures to ease patients' recovery from illness or
injury. Perhaps no comfort measure is better known than the
backrub, a pinnacle of nursing education for many years. Nellie
Elizabeth McAfee, RN, wrote in 1920 about backrubs as a light
massage critical to the treatment of nervous diseases. Many of
our alumni can recall long days providing this hands-on care to
their patients. But, as is the case with medicine, new techniques
and approaches emerged that pulled nurses farther from the
bedside and provided comfort care through other means. Enter
Reiki - a new way to help patients heal through the art of touch.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a gentle and safe holistic practice that is
beneficial for relaxation and stress reduction, and supports
the healing of mind, body and spirit. Experiencing a Reiki
session can enhance the body's natural ability to heal
itself by balancing and restoring the flow of energy within
it. Reiki was developed in Japan in the 1920s and has
become a reliable holistic practice for maintaining health
and well-being.
- Helene Williams, RN, BSN '16

Reiki is a gentle technique that helps promote relaxation and
healing in the patient. It is based on the idea that an energy or
a life force flows through all of us, nourishing our body and
its systems. When that energy becomes restricted or depleted,
whether through injury, illness or day-to-day stressors, our
body's ability to function is impacted. Through practices like
Reiki, that energy can be restored, aiding the body in healing.
14 inPractice | SPRING 2018

During a Reiki treatment, the practitioner gently places his or
her hands on or near the patient, quietly facilitating a state of
mindfulness, peace and calm. The patient may feel a tingling,
warm or cold sensation, or may simply feel deeply relaxed.
Reiki as it is practiced today began in the 1920s in Japan, and
the practice was carried to the U.S. in the decades following
World War II. As the practice became more popular, in the
1990s it began to be offered as a complementary service in many
health care institutions. Today, Reiki is often incorporated into
treatment plans throughout the health care spectrum.

Reiki in Heal th Care

As Reiki became more mainstream in the 1990s, hospitals and
health systems began small pilot programs to integrate Reiki
into their care models. Prestigious hospitals such as Columbia
University Medical Center, Duke University Hospital, Yale New
Haven's Children Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital have robust Reiki
programs to serve their patients. A well-known Reiki program
has been operating at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut since
1998. Beginning with a pilot program of 10 volunteers, the
program has grown to more than 50 volunteers who have
administered nearly 60,000 treatments to patients. This legacy of
treatment has made Hartford not only a leader in helping other
health systems launch their own Reiki programs, but has also
provided clinical data attesting to the treatment's effectiveness.
Patients reported a 40 percent reduction in pain and a 60 percent
increase in relaxation, as well as significant improvements
to sleep and nausea. Additional studies demonstrate Reiki's
effectiveness as a complementary therapy for pain management,
anxiety, depression, heart rate irregularities, side effects of
chemotherapy and more.
Within Lancaster General Health, Reiki was first introduced
in the mid-2000s on the orthopedic unit at the Hospital. ThenNurse Manager Cindy Stauffer '78 invited nurses on the unit to
receive Reiki training, and the service became part of a holistic
healing program including other services such as aromatherapy
and music therapy. PA College faculty member Becky CoxDavenport '96 recently joined the Reiki volunteer fleet, and the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of inPractice - Spring 2018