Reiki, Nursing, and Health Care

Abstract

Health care organizations are responding to consumer demand by offering more complementary and integrative health services in inpatient, outpatient, and clinic settings. Nursing has long embraced energy-based modalities such as Reiki and has been at the forefront of introducing body, mind, and spirit healing practices into health care settings. This article describes how nurses can integrate Reiki into both their personal lives for self-care as well as their professional patient care practices. An overview of Reiki's integration into hospital systems is presented as well as Reiki's use with various patient populations. The status of Reiki research is discussed.

Keywords: Complementary or integrative therapy; Reiki and nursing; Reiki for self-care; Reiki in hospitals; Reiki research; Reiki volunteer programs; Self-care.