Photodisc When Katherine Brown-Saltzman, MA, RN, comforts patients who are anxious, afraid, or in pain at UCLA Medical Center, she speaks in soothing tones. She may sit on their bed, touch them, or take their hand. She asks questions, observes their mood, and assesses their condition. Then, if they are willing, she helps them meditate. The meditation might be a prayer or use of an image.
Some patients prefer to chant a phrase or say the rosary.
Others focus outside themselves, on their friends, or on a picture of a loved one. After meditation, most patients report feeling more relaxed and less afraid, she said. At UCLA, Brown-Saltzman said she worked mostly with dying patients, but nurses and doctors began asking her to help other patients when they saw the results of her work. Among mainstream practitioners, meditation is becoming one of the most accepted practices of alternative or complementary medicine. The first is to repeat a sound, prayer, phrase, or body motion.