Energy Medicine and Sleep Disorders

Energy medicine (EM) refers to a range of techniques and healing modalities that alter the underlying energy field of the body. Energy is stimulated or moved within the body to restore an energy balance through a variety of modalities that include hands-on healing or vibration applied to the body and through movement or sound. Sleep is impaired when the body’s energy is imbalanced and an excess of energy is activated or carried too high in the body. The evidence specifically examining the effect of energy techniques on sleep is limited, with small studies demonstrating benefit with hands-on healing techniques for intensive-care patients and those with cancer and/or chronic pain. There is moderate evidence that energy medicine significantly decreases many types of chronic pain, and it is most utilized in patients with chronic pain syndromes. In addition, weak evidence exists for energy medicine and decreased anxiety. It is extrapolated by many practitioners that the effect on pain and anxiety will result in better sleep. In addition, most energy medicine modalities have techniques specific for improving for sleep that can be done by a practitioner or can be taught to a patient for self-healing. Finding a skilled practitioner or learning self-healing energy techniques for sleep can be valuable additions to a patient’s plan of care.

Towards systemic evaluation in turbulent times – Second-order practice shift

The need for, and possibilities of, a second-order shift in evaluation practice are explored. Second-order evaluation practice enables an evaluator to improve practice as a skilled practitioner, acknowledging her embeddedness within an evaluand. The article explores evaluation practice as experienced by professional evaluators, using ideas from developmental evaluation coupled with systemic evaluation in the tradition of systems thinking in practice. Systemic evaluation aims to capture systemic sensibilities – the bigger picture – of complex turbulent situations of change underpinning evaluands. Attributes of second-order practice with systemic evaluation are understood as being aligned with both systemic and systematic modes of evaluation praxis. Personal experiences are provided where this juxtaposing praxis has been found wanting. By example, a systems thinking in practice framework is explored as heuristic support for making a second-order practice shift. The article concludes with a discussion of some implications for developments in professionalising evaluation practice and research.

To be ‘skilled’ or not to be ‘skilled’? A case study exploring the interaction of two crafts in anthropological fieldwork in Madagascar

This article reflects on the use of, and interactions between, embroidery and reed weaving as methods in anthropological fieldwork with Malagasy craftswomen. The research explores changes in craft methodologies as weavers faced with declining natural resources have shifted to practising embroidery instead. Engagement with the making process was central to the research design, through an apprenticeship in reed weaving and participant observation using both crafts. Reflection on this approach suggests that the researcher’s pre-existing skills affected the role that each craft took in the research, shaping distinct modes of interaction and generating different types of knowledge. Research activities using weaving, in which the researcher was seen as ‘unskilled’, tended to generate technical, practical and logistical knowledge. Activities using embroidery, in which the researcher was already experienced and seen as a ‘skilled’ practitioner, shaped more exploratory research spaces in which more personal conversations emerged. This article discusses ways that the two processes were used to complement each other and suggests that combining both ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ positions could help to overcome some of the challenges of cross-cultural craft research.

Energy Medicine and Gastrointestinal Disorders

Energy medicine (EM) consists of a range of modalities and techniques that work with the underlying energy field of the body. Techniques range from hands-on healing to using vibration, movement or sound. There is moderate evidence that energy medicine significantly decreases many types of chronic pain and is most utilized in patients with chronic pain syndromes. Energy medicine prevalence of use and evidence, specifically in GI disorders, has been less investigated. There are a few small studies demonstrating evidence for decreasing symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. Despite the lack of specific data for GI disorders, due to its role in increasing relaxation and decreasing pain, it can be a useful adjunct therapy. Most energy medicine modalities have specific techniques for GI disorders. Finding a skilled practitioner, as well as learning how to use self-healing techniques, can be valuable additions to a patient’s plan of care.

When Skill and Wisdom Merge

Sam Hamburg's (2018) case studies of the use of metaphoric tasks in psychotherapy take us into the storied course of therapy with "Margie" and with "Amy." In the nuances of Hamburg's accounts of these two sometimes similar, often different case studies, we see how metaphoric tasks can be conceived, implemented, and understood, and how the sensory-evoking, relationship-enhancing potential of metaphor can be enacted. We also see at work a deeply committed, thoughtful, and skilled practitioner-researcher who is, at once, cautious in his claims about the relation between metaphor use and therapy outcome, confident in what he knows about the practice of psychotherapy, and wise in his integration of the two.

Five advantages of skill

In this Special Issue we explore and extend conceptions, characterisations, and applications of skill within and beyond geography. Framed by the question: “where is skill located?”, the papers assembled do not just explore where skilled practice ‘takes place’, its sites and situations, but also prompt a deeper ontological and epistemological rethinking of skill. And it is this rethinking of skill that is at stake in our editorial. In what follows, we map out this rethinking and introduce the five advantages of skill that the papers develop. Firstly, skill is practical in that it is concerned with the actual doing or use of something with accomplishment. Secondly, skill is processual in that the skilled practitioner works emergently and responsively rather than rubrically and successionally. Thirdly, skill is technical in that it involves not just techniques of the body but encompasses what Bernard Stiegler calls the ‘originary technicity’ of the body. Fourthly, skill is ecological in that it is not of the individual body, but of the entire field of relations that make practice possible. And finally, skill is political in that there is a continuous flow between the micro – (that which is emergent) and macro – (that which exists more concretely and can be represented) politics of practice.

Modelling Framework and Assistive Device for Peripheral Intravenous Injections

Intravenous access for blood sampling or drug administration that requires peripheral venepuncture is perhaps the most common invasive procedure practiced in hospitals, clinics and general practice surgeries.We describe an idealised mathematical framework for modelling the dynamics of the peripheral venepuncture process. Basic assumptions of the model are confirmed through motion analysis of needle trajectories during venepuncture, taken from video recordings of a skilled practitioner injecting into a practice kit. The framework is also applied to the design and construction of a proposed device for accurate needle guidance during venepuncture administration, assessed as consistent and repeatable in application and does not lead to over puncture. The study provides insights into the ubiquitous peripheral venepuncture process and may contribute to applications in training and in the design of new devices, including for use in robotic automation.

Making meaning of nursing practices in acute care

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how meaning may be made of nursing practices by contrasting the rationalistic approach commonly used in the nursing literature with Bourdieu’s theory of practice. Design/methodology/approach – The data under consideration is an account of ten to 15 minutes of a larger ethnographic study of nursing practices which asks the question: how do nurses accomplish nursing within and between patients’ needs for care in the acute hospital setting? The five main sources of data were: observations of and conversations with nurse participants, as well as hospital documentation (including facility protocols and patients’ notes) and the observer’s field diary. These were woven together to provide an account of one nurse with one patient for a few moments of her day. Findings – Although this paper makes no attempt to speak to the rest of her workload, in these few minutes the nurse accomplishes multiple moments of nursing practice. Further, while the rationalistic approach presents the nurse as a highly skilled practitioner, Bourdieu’s theory of practice not only illuminates the nurse’s role as pivotal in the acute hospital setting but is also able to address the dialectical nature of the relationship between nurses’ practices and the dynamics of the context. Originality/value – The use of Bourdieu’s theory of practice makes possible the study of how nurses nurse “within and between” to illuminate the everyday practices of nurses.

An Overview of Vertebroplasty: Current Status, Controversies, and Future Directions

Vertebroplasty is a cost-effective procedure for the relief of pain in appropriately selected patients when performed by a skilled practitioner. The currently accepted indications and contraindications for vertebroplasty are reviewed. The techniques routinely used by the authors are presented, including a discussion of recognized complications. Recent controversy has highlighted weaknesses in the practice of technology evaluation, and more robust studies will be required to address these issues across the board in the future more scientifically than has been done in the past.

Comments on Bulterman-Bos: What Should Education Research Do, and How Should It Do It?

In this article, three theoretical perspectives are used to extend Bulterman-Bos’s (2008) argument regarding a clinical approach to education research. First, three intellectual virtues identified by Aristotle— episteme, techne, and phronesis—are related to the requirements of the “pure” education researcher, the skilled practitioner, and the clinical researcher, respectively. Second, Churchman’s typology of inquiry systems—based on whether the primary source of evidence is logic, observation, representation, dialectic, or values—is offered as a way of conceptualizing different kinds of inquiry in education. Third, recognizing that much practitioner knowledge is tacit, Nonaka and Takeuchi’s model of knowledge conversion is suggested as a tool with which knowledge gained through different methods of inquiry might be brought into productive dialogue.