I'm Going To A Verbal First Aid Workshop...

[AnthonyM83]

We've talked about the power of suggestion before on this board.

I'll be going to a workshop on Verbal First Aid later this week and will have access to the speaker for some time.

For those of you interested in placebo, guided imagery, and hypnosis for pain control, respiratory problems, burns, bleeding, and calming patients....do you have any questions or topics of concern as it relates to EMS that I might bring up with her while I'm there. I wish I had more field experience to come up with better questions.

Also, would there be resistance to learning and incorporating these techniques? A few reputable people have agreed that placebo in medicine does work, so I hope plausibility isn't too much of a factor.

And remember for our uses, placebo wouldn't really mean witholding medicine. Say there's a tib-fib fracture and you start giving morphine 2mg at a time per protocol (or whatever yours is). You can do the placebo stuff AS you administer the medicine...if it works with that patient, you might not have to give the second dose.

Or if there's active bleeding, you might give suggestions to reduce the bleeding while your partner unwraps a gauze pad (it's not that weird...if your body can release endorphins to reduce pain through placebo, it's understandable how it can also release other chemicals to constrict blood vessels).

Anyway, I'm getting into this workshop for free, so I think it'd be a crime not to at least check it out. The workshop is meant for people therapists who work in the field of guided imagery and hypnosis, but I really want to see how it can be applied in the field. If you have suggestions on topics to bring up, please rely or PM me.

Here's the workshop description:

When people are in an emergency situation, or shocked by a life-threatening diagnosis, they go into an altered state in which their autonomic nervous system can accept suggestions that can set the course for healing and change the outcome. Words said at that time can help stop bleeding, prevent scarring from burns, provide pain relief, and begin the inner healing. In this workshop, Dr. Prager will detail the protocols from "The Worst Is Over: What To Say When Every Word Counts", the book she co-authored with Judith Acosta, LSSW, CHT, giving you powerful tools for helping others in times of great pain and stress. These tools can also be used with people suffering from chronic illness, emotional distress, impending death or loss of a loved one, suicide attempts, and surgery. Dr. Prager developed a series of before, during, and after surgery CDs, Guided Imagery for Surgery that use the Verbal First Aid techniques and were part of a pilot study done at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with impressive results, including "dramatic reduction in pain and sleeping medicine requested," nearly 100% patient satisfaction, and fewer side effects from the anesthesia.

[Richard]

It seems interesting enough.

I may have a preconceived idea of the kind of people who will more than likely be in attendance (faith healers and hippies,) but I wonder if bringing up the point that all the guided imagery in the world is kind of moot if no one thinks to call 911 or apply pressure to the squirting artery.

Do you know if it's a lecture followed my a question period?

Let us know how it all turns out.