From the outside, nursing sometimes looks like it is all about technology and technique. Recent technological advances include light-weight, hand-held vein finders; mobile health applications for PDAs, Blackberries and cell phones; and even a mobile robotic platform that enables a physician to be remotely present at the bedside.

But there is a whole other side of nursing that is the reason many people entered the profession - what Meredith Kendall, MSN, RN, calls, "caring and gentle touch and being there for patients, being their advocate - not so much the science of nursing, but the art of nursing."

Kendall uses those same words to describe a treatment modality she employs every day in her nursing practice at the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, the practice of reiki.

"Reiki is so simple. Anyone can learn to do it, and people who receive it report such dramatic changes, such dramatic results after just a short session that it is amazing," said Kendall, a nursing instructor in Central Maine Medical Center's College of Nursing and Health Professions and reiki coordinator at the hospital. Her team of reiki practitioners provides services to cancer patients and their families every day.

Growing in Popularity

Reiki is an art, but Kendall said there is a growing body of evidence that supports the use of reiki as a treatment modality. Researchers like James Oschman, PhD, biologist and bio-physicist, have been able to ground alternative medical techniques in science, describing energy systems in the body as what Oschman calls, "the 'built-in' healing systems possessed by all of us."

"Reiki practitioners believe everything is alive, as do quantum physicists. It's the study of energy, of how particles and waves interact and are altered by the interaction," Kendall said. "I think of nursing as a Feynman Diagram where two particles come together temporarily, and they are altered and they go off on their separate ways."

This ancient healing art is becoming more common in the world of traditional medicine. "Reiki is very mainstream - 15 percent of U.S. hospitals use it."

The fact that Mehmet Oz, MD, FACS, (host of The Dr. Oz Show and cardiac surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY) uses reiki on his patients while they are in surgery is raising its visibility and lending credibility to this healing technique.

From Skeptic to Expert

Kendall, who is solidly in the camp of reiki advocates today, admits she wasn't always a believer.

"When I came out of nursing school, I'd heard about it, but I had absolutely no interest. I completely dismissed it, and thought it wasn't for me. It was a slow and long process for me to get to where I am now."

Her conversion started with a casual comment about reiki from a cousin.

"I was completely and instantly intrigued. As soon as I heard about it, I felt a sense of urgency, knew it was for me, and I needed to do it. I still feel that way."

Kendall has been a nurse for 24 years; she has been practicing reiki for 7 years. These twin passions led her to write a book about her experiences titled, Reiki Nurse: My Life As a Nurse, and How Reiki Changed It.

Authoring a book is a lot of work, so why did Kendall go to all the effort?

"To let people know what reiki is. I just felt really moved to try to explain it, what it does, the benefits, hoping more people would pursue reiki sessions and learn how to do it."

Why should nurses read her book? "Because it is moving, it will make you laugh; it will make you cry," she said. "It will remind you of similar stories from your own practice, and it will remind you of why you wanted to be a nurse.

"I hope it will inspire nurses to write their own stories."

Pat Muccigrosso is a frequent contributor to ADVANCE.