ICAM Conference

Saturday morning I joined 2 fellow nursing friends, Nadine and Molly, at the 2012 Integrate Chicago Conference at Loyola's Med School.  It was an interesting conference that explored the modalities of integrative, complimentary and alternative medicines.  It was something I went to because I thought it was interesting and it would look good in my nursing portfolio when it comes to getting placed for immersion at the end of the program and looking for a job.

Examples would be yoga, meditation, massage therapy, acupuncture, sensory imagery, stress management, mindfulness etc.  I admit that I was even skeptical that ICAM would have any affect on the healing process.  I mean how can yoga help heal a patient with cancer?!  Yet contrary to my belief, the research was staggering and patients who included at least one of these ICAM methods in addition to traditional treatment had far more promising results than those patients who used traditional treatment alone.

It makes sense if you think about it.  The mind is very much a part of the body, so why wouldn't you treat that too?  One presenter talked about how she has patients hold a thermometer in their hand and talk about a stressful situation for just a few minutes.  That activity alone made the temperature in the hand drop a few degrees.  Another interesting fact, if you use stressful breathing (breathing from the chest vs. the diaphragm) for just 3 minutes, it decreases the amount of oxygen going to the heart and brain by 30%.  Moral of the story.... 

RELAX

Don't dwell on the past 

or fret about the future

Put yourself first more often 

Be mindful of your body 

Put yourself in a happy place  

Slow it down for a bit

  

Flight attendants always tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others because if you're not well, you're no help to anyone else.  The same goes for life so take care of yourself: mind, body and soul.  I too am trying to be more mindful while going through school.  So many people are freaking out about this patho test coming up on Tuesday.  I'm going in with the mindset that I prepared myself as much as I could and what will be will be.  It's not worth compromising my immune system over and my lack of anxiety alone will put me ahead of the game or at least that's the hope.  Then again I very well could be rereading this post later in the week because I'll be freaking out that I performed below my standard, but Ill cross that bridge when/if I get to it...  Needless to say, the conference was fabulous and mind-boggling.  Each presenter I saw always stressed looking at the patient with the illness vs. the illness the patient has as a key factor in the healing process.  This mindset completely parallels with my nursing philosophy and is why I chose nursing specifically in the realm of medical professions.