Working with volunteers who had completed Healing Touch Levels 1, 2 and 3 in a Mid-Atlantic hospital, Dr. Clara W. Boyle, RN, HTCP developed this reference tool.

The hospital began offering Healing Touch sessions in April 2014 in response to nursing staff requests for additional non-pharmacological pain management modalities for patients. Several nurses, the hospital chaplain and the Director of Mission were instrumental in establishing the program. The hospital’s Auxiliary provided grants to fund the purchase of supplies and provide tuition for Healing Touch classes levels 1 through 3 for seven staff members.

The visitation process is simple: members of the Healing Touch team make rounds two afternoons a week. After explaining Healing Touch to the patient, s/he is asked to sign a consent form. A Healing Touch sign is placed on the room door. Music is played during a 30-minute session. The session is documented and a note is placed in the patient’s chart. Most often, the patient is left dozing.

Staff nurses, the chaplain, physicians and Palliative Care made 427 requests for Healing Touch from April to December 2014 and 516 as of September 2015. Brush downs and Scudders are offered to visitors, family members and hospital staff.

 The benefits of this new tool include a convenient, easy reference to help team members apply appropriate Healing Touch techniques based on a patient’s condition. Knowing what technique to select has increased team members’ confidence. For easy access, the reference tool was reduced and laminated so that it is worn with other personnel information badges.

The Pain Drain Flush is a new technique devised by Dr. Boyle as she was working with another Healing Touch practitioner on a friend who had pneumonia. The purpose of the Pain Drain Flush technique is to help reduce pain, loosen congestion in any body area and in the case of pneumonia, energetically clear fluids from the lungs.

The Pain Drain Flush requires two people, standing on opposite sides of the patient’s bed. The flush is based on the Pain Drain technique taught in the Healing Touch Level 1 class. One person places a hand over the body part to be flushed and holds the other hand down toward the floor to drain the body area. The second person stands on the other side of the bed, holds one hand up to fill the space with energy as the other hand is held over the body part to be filled. The hands are positioned on a diagonal axis across the body with the filling hand higher than the draining hand. Thus, the energy goes across and flushes congestion out of the person’s body.

Reprint from Energy Magazine Issue: Jan/Feb 2016