Dive Brief:
- A new study has found that psychological support from nurses can help patients heal and reduce the pain felt during uncomfortable procedures.
- The researchers found that patients who were told by nurses to imagine they were in a safe place—like the beach—during cardiac ablation felt less pain than those who had not been invited to visualize a safe place.
- When nurses encouraged the mindfulness exercises, the authors said that patients reported feeling involved, which made it easier for them to cope with pain and anxiety.
Dive Insight:
Given the number of drugs that many First World people are on already, it's great to see an intervention—apparently a successful one—that calmed patients and reduced pain without adding to their drugs. The intervention is also cost-free, another sterling virtue. All told, we've only scratched the surface of what's possible when patients focus their body and mind's capacity to heal themselves.