The Cardiac Catheterization Reiki Relaxation Program (CCRP) was a six month pilot program in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab (from December 2003 through June 2004) to assist patients to relax before their cardiac catheterization procedure.

During Phase I, the first three months, Reiki services were offered five hours a day, five days a week.

During  Phase II, the second three months, Reiki services were offered two hours per day,  five days per week.

A full description of the program and the surveys collected follows.  Key positive impacts of this program were:

1)     patients experienced decreased pain and  anxiety, and feelings of well being and calmness;

2)     staff felt the Reiki relaxation program helped them to deliver compassionate care;

3)     cardiologists shifted their attitude about the positive impact of Reiki relaxation.
 

Final Report Phase I and Phase II:

All patients coming for cardiac catheterization were offered the opportunity to receive Reiki relaxation therapy.  The length of time for each Reiki session varied from a few minutes to an hour.  Those patients who elected to receive Reiki were asked to respond the following questionnaire.

Pre-Catheterization:

            Rate yourself on a scale of 1-6, least to most --

     I feel relaxed and confident.

     I feel anxious and tense.

     I am pleased and satisfied with my experience here so far today.

After the cardiac catheterization, and after patients regained alertness level, they were asked to respond to the following questionnaire. 

Post-Catheterization

Rate yourself on a scale of 1-6, least to most --

     I felt anxious and tense while waiting for the procedure.

     I felt relaxed and confident during the procedure.

     I have felt well cared for during the entire time that I am here.

In addition, the treating staff and the treating cardiologist in the room with the patient during the cardiac catheterization were also asked to respond to the following questionnaire.

Staff  and Cardiologist Questionnaires

Rate your feeling relevant to the following statements (again, scale of 1-6) --

     Patient appeared relaxed and cooperative.

     Procedure went smoothly as expected.

     I feel the relaxation program has an overall positive impact.

Results of the CCRP Questionnaires:       

A total of 428 patients were offered Reiki touch relaxation.

266 patients (62%) signed a consent to have Reiki touch.

36 patients (14%) were able to be interviewed for the post questionnaire comparison.

35  staff responses (13%) were tallied.

13 cardiologist responses (5%) were tallied.
 

Results of the Questionnaires:

Phase III:  GWUH Reiki Volunteer Program

This phase has been implemented and our first class of 8 credentialed Reiki Volunteers are offering Reiki services in the hospital.  We are in cardiac catheterization two days a week and offering care to cardiology, medical-surgical and oncology patients.
 

Commentary:

Those Who Did Not Choose Reiki

There were 162 patients who were offered but did not sign a consent for Reiki.  In some cases they requested Reiki but there was no time for signing a consent before they were taken for their procedure.  In most other cases Reiki was denied but other requests were met:  holding their hand, sitting with and listening to them, providing music via a CD player, turning down the lights, finding family members, and finding ways to make them physically more comfortable while waiting for their procedure.

On Measuring Patient Anxiety Levels

The questionnaire findings about patient anxiety prior to and post catheterization revealed that a more objective or a more timely measurement is needed.  Comparison of pre and post Reiki session  statements made by  patients indicated a wide range of benefit including decreasing tension, decreasing pain, decreasing anxiety, and improving state of calmness.  However, the post catheterization questionnaire administered many hours after the Reiki contact did not elicit any clear findings.  It is clear we need to measure the response close to the time of delivery of the treatment, without intervening variables.

Post Procedure Patient Questionnaires

It was difficult to obtain a greater number of the post procedure questionnaire data because of time limits of Reiki practitioners.  Only the early arrival patients or the patients who ended up staying over a night at the hospital were able to be found for follow up.

Staff and Cardiologist Questionnaires

Low numbers of  respondents from the staff and even lower from the cardiologists was understandable in view of the intense time scheduling requirements for the lab rooms, the waiting patients ready to come in, and the emergencies that interrupt the scheduling.  However, although most of the questionnaires were anonymous for staff and cardiologist, it was readily apparent that the respondents were from a small core of these professionals who believed in the help the program was providing. 

Over the course of the program, the staff and cardiologist attitudes shifted toward the positive.  Each cardiologist received a follow up letter on each patient who signed a release to receive Reiki relaxation.  The letter detailed comments made by the patient about how the Reiki relaxation affected them.  Those who might have had skepticism about the Reiki relaxation effects could not deny the positive effects on patients: decreasing pain, decreasing tension, improving feelings of well being and calmness.

Staff Training

Thirteen cardiac catheterization lab staff members engaged in Reiki practitioner (level one) training at the beginning of the pilot program.  This was offered to help staff appreciate what the Reiki relaxation program was offering to cardiac catheterization patients, and not necessarily for them to use with their patients.  Staff were queried at 3 months post training.

Three Months Post Training Attitude Sample- rating scale 1-5, none to highest level

            6/12 (1 moved away) responded (50%)

We learned from the staff responses that Reiki training affected them most positively in their ability to deliver compassionate care.  All of the staff were positive about receiving more training.  It was our experience that while staff were hesitant to do Reiki on each other, they were very ready for the Reiki team to provide treatments to them when they were in need.

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