American Holistic Nurses Association position on Reiki

There is growing interest among nurses and other healthcare providers in CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) energy work, especially touch therapies that are noninvasive and not dependent on expensive technology.

In the Position Statement of the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) on the use of CAM, energy medicine, including Reiki, is recognized and use of it by member nurses is endorsed. From the AHNA website:

Energy therapies involve the use of energy fields, and include Qigong, Reiki, Healing Touch, and Therapeutic Touch, as well as bioelectromagnetic-based therapies that involve the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields.

AHNA believes that inherent in the nursing role is the ability to touch the client’s/patient’s body, and to assess, plan, intervene, evaluate, and perform preventive, supportive, and restorative functions of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual domains. Therefore, it is expected that the nurse may draw upon and utilize principles and techniques of both conventional and CAM therapies, and that these would be within the scope of nursing practice. AHNA supports the integration of CAM into conventional health care to enable the client to benefit from the best of all treatments available.

See: http://www.ahna.org/Resources/Publications/PositionStatements/tabid/1926/Default.aspx#P1

Reiki Research

NCCAM
American Holistic Nurses Association
Reiki in New Hampshire Hospitals
What is Reiki?
History of Reiki
Additional Research