From Reiki to Aromatherapy: Inside BMC’s Award-Winning Integrative Nursing Model

Tim Murphy had a patient in the ICU. She didn’t speak English, she was having a hard time with headaches, and since she’d been admitted to the hospital, she wasn’t sleeping. While her care team worked on a clinical plan for the patient’s care, Murphy approached her at her bedside. He spoke to the patient, through translation from her daughter, and offered a unique approach: Reiki, a Japanese technique where a practitioner helps guide healing energy through the body through gentle or no touch. Before he was done with the treatment, the patient was fast asleep. After he left the room, he was approached 30 minutes later by her daughter, with tears in her eyes. 

“She told me that her mom had the best sleep she’s had since she was in the hospital,” Murphy recalls. “Her headache had also all but resolved. And it was only a short time, but the Reiki really helped her find a space that’s hard to describe.” 

Tim Murphy, RN, BS, is co-chair of BMC’s Integrative Nursing Council. BMC is emerging as a leader in incorporating holistic nursing and integrative medicine into patient care. Integrative medicine combines conventional medical treatments with complementary, non-pharmacological therapies, including mind-body interventions and stress management methods, such as mindfulness, meditation, and Reiki. 

Already at the bedside, nursing staff often serve as the most effective providers to administer these services to patients. Holistic nursing originated in the 1700s, but it was formally recognized by the American Nursing Association in 2006, and it has become a distinct specialty with a specific scope, standards, and certifications. 

“In some ways, integrative nursing is like the pure heart of nursing. It is looking at patients as a whole person,” says Nancy Gaden, DNP, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Boston Medical Center (BMC). 

BMC’s Integrative Nursing Council began as a grassroots Reiki practice, initiated by a small group of nurses at the hospital more than two decades ago. Today, it has evolved into a comprehensive hospital-wide nursing initiative to identify, establish, and support evidence-based integrative nursing practices. In 2024, the American Holistic Nurses Association awarded BMC the Institutional Excellence in Holistic Nursing Practice Award, recognizing the hospital’s pioneering work incorporating holistic approaches for the benefit of patients, staff, and the institution.

A model for integrative nursing 

Across the patient experience, from labor and delivery to end-of-life care, BMC’s Integrative Nursing Council educates nurses on how to best employ effective holistic approaches at the bedside. Since its inception in 2016, the Council has taught more than 200 care practitioners who have treated more than 6,000 BMC patients with integrative therapies. In a recent survey of 144 patients, 100% reported that the therapies aided in their healing with 98% reporting desire to repeat treatment if hospitalized again.  

These practices are employed primarily across inpatient areas, including Labor & Delivery and the hospital’s surgical units. Many of the OR nurses, for example, use aromatherapy, including ginger, peppermint, and red mandarin, which have been shown to be effective in helping patients manage nausea post-op. 

The space where integrative medicine has really come to prominence is in pain management. To minimize the risks of excessive opioid use, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations—the largest U.S. accrediting body for health systems—encourages hospitals to offer integrative therapies for pain. These interventions can calm patients, helping to stop the inflammation cascade, aiding pain management, and allowing the body to heal better. Amid the opioid crisis, integrative medicine has enabled clinicians and patients to become less reliant on pharmaceuticals. 

A huge step in recognizing the value of integrative practices, the hospital’s electronic medical record—EPIC—now allows caregivers to input patient requests for Reiki, aromatherapy, meditation/mindfulness, palliative care education, art therapy, pet therapy, and music. The resulting demand is significant, with an integrative nurse typically receiving between 20 and 40 requests a day.  

Integrative nursing, for nurses’ self-care 

In parallel, the Integrative Nursing Council works to raise awareness in the hospital’s nursing community to help staff incorporate self-care to improve resiliency and performance, which can improve patient care. 

The Council hosts resiliency days for nurses and nurse assistants, who receive eight hours of basic training on managing stress. Nurses are taught journaling, deep listening, and aromatherapy, among other things.  

“You know how stressful nursing can be, healing people, literally dealing with life and death. There are all kinds of stress,” Murphy says. “We wanted to give them a little spot, a moment, even in the middle of the day to reset and recognize the strength and power that they have within themselves.” 

To study how intentional grounding could mitigate some of this stress for his fellow team members, Murphy conducted a three-month study for ICU nurses in the hospital. Thirty-one nurses were offered intentional grounding therapy across this time period. Surveys showed that nurses had less stress or managed their stress better afterward—and that they overall felt better at work and better in their personal lives. 

Educating the next generation of nurses in integrative therapies 

In 2022, the Council established the Integrative Nursing Fellowship—a first-of-its-kind curriculum for nurse educators to further research into integrative techniques. The program allots 12 hours a week for dedicated time to: day-long seminars, case studies, mentor meetings, narratives, live-practice of techniques, and formulating a self-care plan. The live practice portion enables a fellow to spend one shift a week at the bedside, administering holistic practices for patients. 

Beyond hands-on training in Reiki, aromatherapy, and mindful meditation, fellows select their own research projects based on their interests. The fellowship is pushing forward research on the effectiveness of alternative therapies. Research topics include integrative practices in end-of-life care, acupressure, art therapy, labor and delivery, and brief intentional grounding for ICU nurses. 

The Council prioritizes disseminating knowledge and growing the field of integrative nursing beyond the health system. The 15th annual Integrative Nursing Conference will be held this spring, bringing together nurses from departments across the city to listen to and learn from experts on alternative healing modalities and how they can benefit both patients and nurses.  

Integrative nursing with access at its core 

For Murphy, the practice of integrative nursing extends beyond the immediate benefits of relaxation and healing. Learning mind-body interventions such as mindful meditation and grounding techniques provide a form of healing that patients and caregivers can take home with them.   

“At BMC, we can introduce patients to Reiki treatments that they would otherwise be unable to access and teach them meditation practices that they can take with them and practice outside of the hospital,” Murphy says. “So, for me, our work is helping to empower patients and nurses. We have a practice that allows them to help heal themselves. That’s what it is all about.”