Reiki and its journey into a hospital setting.

There is a growing interest among health care providers, especially professional nurses to promote caring-healing approaches in patient care and self-care. Health care environments are places of human caring and holistic nurses are helping to lead the way that contemporary health care institutions must become holistic places of healing. The practice of Reiki as well as other practices can assist in the creation of this transformative process. Abington Memorial Hospital (AMH) in Abington, Pennsylvania is a Magnet-designated health care facility with an Integrative Medicine Services Department. AMH's Integrative Medicine staff focuses on the integration of holistic practices, such as Reiki into traditional patient care. Reiki services at AMH were initiated about 10 years ago through the efforts of a Reiki practitioner/nurse and the vision that healing is facilitated through the nurturing of the mind, body, and spirit for healing and self-healing. AMHs-sustained Reiki program includes Reiki treatments and classes for patients, health care providers, and community members. This program has evolved to include a policy and annual competency for any Reiki-trained nurse and other employees to administer Reiki treatments at the bedside.