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Post by Rivka P on Jul 12, 2009 23:33:53 GMT -5
Wouldn't it be awesome if a massage therapist and/or chiropractor were consulted for an inpatient? I mean, I KNOW they would benefit! I want to see that happen in my lifetime, where traditional medicine accepts the benefits of alternative stuff and uses that information to help heal their patients.  |
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Post by achot on Jul 13, 2009 0:32:00 GMT -5
Why cant the family bring one in if they want? I have seen that done.
You can suggest it, but be careful you are not stepping on someones toes or breaking hospital policy.
Bring it up cautiously (not over-enthusiastically) to your head nurse and see what she says.
I also recommend support groups when appropriate.
Be careful with alternative medicine, I wouldn't recommend Homeopathic meds or something way out there, and present it as an option, in conjunction with what you called "traditional medicine" .
Certainly you can ask the doctor to recommend a chiroprator or osteopath if you think it will help, those are recognized areas of treatment.
As for massage therapy, I would enlist the Physical Therapists opinion on a case by case situation.
What you can do and will certainly help is encourage the family to bring personal objects (if allowed) to the hospital room, it will uplift the pts spirit and aid in his wellbeing. Favorite foods within the pts and hospitals dietary limits, Music (with headphones), aromatherapy if the other pts in the room don't mind, and encouraging visitors ( in the appropriate time constraints) - or discouraging them as the situation calls for.
I am sure there are other ideas, anyone have some?
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Post by medic09 on Jul 13, 2009 7:26:03 GMT -5
Some practitioners are open to this; some less so. Like Achot said, you can suggest it to the doc.
When I was in school, a classmate was a massage therapist. I had a patient with intractable pain, and we just couldn't get on top of it the usual ways. I asked her to make some time to see him. She did whatever she did, and he was genuinely more comfortable.
Nurses are already taught to use mixed modalities. When my patient has back pain and I address it by repositioning him or rubbing his lower back or applying heat or ice instead of just hitting him with morphine, I'm using that approach.
When my wife did Family Practice she collaborated a number of times with a friend of ours who is a well-known naturopath. Sometimes his Tx effected positive change where all the tools of Western medicine did little. One of our ER docs is trained in acupuncture. Every so often, we get a patient with a complaint that he thinks can be addressed well that way. The one time I saw him do it, it had an excellent effect on the patient. He can't bill for it, and he only does it on the rare occasions that he thinks it will really help the patient where other things don't work. My wife has also collaborated with two physicians (one in Boston, one here in Santa Fe) who were trained in traditional Chinese medicine in China, and Western medicine in the US. There are individual people out there doing this. Another one of our docs is a frum Jew who has practiced in places like the Amazon basin and Zuni pueblo. Just as a matter of practicality, he will suggest Tx to the patient that may not involve heavy technology or medicines.
I think from our perspective, we should also strive for an approach to healing that emphasizes teshuvah. This, according to many of the hachamim, is ideal. Ramban and Ibn Ezra (unlike Rambam and others) hold that in an ideal world, there is no need for physicians; only teshuvah. Of course, we can't exactly promote that in any usual way to our patients; but we can promote a 'teshuvah and medicine' approach for ourselves! Some of that was part of the introductory lecture on medical ethics that started our bi-monthly series at the hospital last week.
And some of our patients are believers in God. That often comes up with me, because they'll say something when they see my kippah. I encourage them to pray, and to thank God for their recovery and the good things they have. Have to be careful, of course, not to cross policy and professional lines with that. But if they initiate the conversation and state their belief, I can encourage them briefly. I'm just a little wary, too, not to encourage them to possible avodah zarah/idolatrous prayer. I don't pray WITH my non-Jewish patients, though I've been asked a few times.
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Post by Rivka P on Jul 20, 2009 23:06:57 GMT -5
achot, what I meant is not that it should be something that the family think of. I kind of feel like saying that the family can bring in a massage therapist if they like is like saying, oh well the family can bring in a physical therapist if they like. I feel that alternative medicine therapies that have been proven to assist patients with one thing or the other should become more regulated and prescribed by healthcare providers.
I have read articles about patients who require less pain medication because of pet therapy. Just by being visited by a dog, their pain was less intense, less pain medication was necessary, they were at less risk for complications like slowed resp. rate and digestive issues etc. That's intense, don't you think?
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Post by achot on Jul 21, 2009 0:05:40 GMT -5
achot, what I meant is not that it should be something that the family think of. I kind of feel like saying that the family can bring in a massage therapist if they like is like saying, oh well the family can bring in a physical therapist if they like. I feel that alternative medicine therapies that have been proven to assist patients with one thing or the other should become more regulated and prescribed by healthcare providers. I have read articles about patients who require less pain medication because of pet therapy. Just by being visited by a dog, their pain was less intense, less pain medication was necessary, they were at less risk for complications like slowed resp. rate and digestive issues etc. That's intense, don't you think? Oh, I understood you but from the hospitals point of view if alternative medicine therapies are prescribed by them, the bigger question will be who is responsible to pay ? will the insurance companies pay for them? Besides, people go to doctors looking for what you called traditional medicine, if they want alternative medicine they go to specialist of their nature. Many doctors i know will suggest to pts with chronic pain to try alternative medicine, on their own time, but it isnt their place of expertise. People have to put their money where their mouth is, I agree with pet therapy and we use it twice a week in our facility as well as a Snoezline room, massage therapist, aromatherapy etc. whatever will make the pt feel better, However we have a very very open minded director, most are not. This is why I choose to work here, perhaps there are better places, but this one is in conjunction with my beliefs on improving QUALITY OF LIFE, not just taking care of the patient. We have a therapist with a trained dog come and take pts out for walks in the nearby park (full of trees and plants etc). You dont have to convince me of the benefits of these therapies. I do believe that the families have to take proactive roles in their loved ones care, not laissez faire, and if the family wants a pet therapist, massage therapist etc, they should shoulder the cost. Traditional hospital care doesn't include them and if you havent noticed the economic environment isnt conducive to your idea, maybe its an idea that will flourish in better times. Or maybe you should look for a job in a place that already encourages and works with the therapies you believe in. I doubt you alone will make a difference and i wouldn't recommend you make waves about it unless you have others join you in your crusade. |
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Post by Rivka P on Jul 22, 2009 0:17:38 GMT -5
Actually, I must say that Abington Memorial Hospital is pretty cool like that. We do have dogs come in and visit the patients. One of the channels on the TV is calm music and pretty scenes like the beach or flowers. There are volunteers who play the harp and walk around the hospital. I know many places have clowns and we do too.
I just feel like sometimes I am pushing so many pain meds, that I wish I could call the massage therapist and have them give them a treatment instead.
By the way, I heard a great nursing grand rounds about horticultural therapy! I think it was long term care patients who were involved in planting a garden. They were so happy to be caring for a living thing. I was quite impressed.
You know, I took a quiz in college what my ideal job should be. It was a dance therapist.
:-)
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Post by achot on Jul 22, 2009 2:48:11 GMT -5
Sounds like your facility is trying to do the right thing, yes we have an older Kibbutznik horticulturist who does gardening therapy with the patients, she is totally gifted and has achieved amazing results with the patients, Hadasah Har Hazofim did it with their adolescent ward (mostly anorexics- you can see the connection and how it was useful) almost won a prize for it.
We tried clowns but it didn't work, the patients were either scared of them (we had a girl then a man) or thought they belonged in the pediatric ward, cheered up us nurses anyway :-) !!
Re the pain meds you "push". I am sure they are necessary and if the patient is in pain, you really do have to give it, I hate nurses who become paternalistic and deny pts their pain meds "for their own good"
BTW the Melabev activity room that is adjoined to my office has a dance therapist several times a week to work with their Alzheimers pts, they love it!!
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Post by Rivka P on Jul 23, 2009 0:41:44 GMT -5
but I bet the dance therapist gets paid less money than I do ;-)
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Post by achot on Jul 24, 2009 0:27:43 GMT -5
she's retired so she doesn't really care, it looks like she does this for more than money....
Something to look into for your later years...
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Post by Rivka P on Jul 24, 2009 1:26:33 GMT -5
totally! :-)
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Post by Rivka P on Mar 19, 2010 15:41:54 GMT -5
Recently found out that there's a reiki and aromatherapy course offered at my hospital and we can use lavender and peppermint to assist patients in the hospital. Don't know where to get these oils, but am working on finding that out. I got in report that the nurse before me used peppermint to help our nauseous pt and it helped with her nausea and it helped calm her and her mother down as well! Cool, huh? :-D
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Post by achot on Mar 21, 2010 13:08:37 GMT -5
I beleive in aromatherapy so good luck with it, our PT's add lavender to their massage oils. Peppermint is helpful for nausea. Just make sure you monitor and document everything, according to facility policy.
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