Therapeutic touch: an extension of professional skills.

Therapeutic touch, developed 25 years ago by Dolores Krieger, RN, PhD, and Dora Kunz, continues to gain ever wider acceptance in the health care field for one reason--it works. In our high-tech dialysis world of invasive, often painful procedures, therapeutic touch offers a welcome reprieve for patients and staff alike. For patients it has decreased restlessness, anxiety, fear and the pain from cannulations and central venous catheter insertions. Besides helping the recipients, therapeutic touch also affects the practitioners, with most practitioners reporting a greater sense of calm and well-being, in addition to the personal satisfaction of being able to offer a treatment that brings such relief to stressed-out patients. This article will introduce therapeutic touch and its use in the clinical setting.