In La Crosse, Wisconsin, ambulance crews are being encouraged to use aromatherapy for “minor” pain in emergency situations.
Yep, why risk an opioid drug that’s bound to make you a hopeless addict before you reach the hospital. Here, we’ll stick essential oils on your chest.
At first I thought it was a gag, like Homeopathic Emergency Department. But these loons are serious.
Note that they’re using this stuff in the hospital too. :eek::smack:
Aromatherapy has a lot of woo attached to it, and this is one of those times. :smack: It does have its uses; this is not one of them.
How loud does the person have to be screaming to get pain meds, anyway? And it’s not like a single dose is going to lead to addiction.
This is as insane as demanding that every restaurant, beauty salon, library, etc. stock Narcan in case an addict should happen to wander in.
Well no, if you read the article you linked to, the doctor says that anyone who needs natcotics will get them.
This is to keep the patients amused in the back of the ambulance, and give the EMT’s something to do to keep the patients occupied.
I have to admit, jackmannii, I rolled my eyes a little at your thread title.
But after learning the details, I’m with ya.
mmm
That’s pretty much how it reads to me. It’s a modern woo-flavored placebo, for patients who aren’t in severe enough pain to warrant serious narcotics. As the article notes, covering/diverting from unpleasant smells like diesel exhaust and the plastic odors of equipment in the ambulance might help some people who are experiencing nausea, too.
I’m still not really happy with it, because I feel it unduly legitimizes the woo. I don’t know if keeping patients a little more calm and cooperative because they feel the EMT is doing something for them justifies that downside.
From the linked article:
“Gundersen Health System, the parent company of Tri-State, has been using essential oils in the hospital setting for several years. Eberlein said the success with essential oils among patients in post-operative care was what inspired him to look at using the therapy in ambulances.”
One wonders how “success” in post-operative patients is defined. :dubious:
Memo to the hospital system and ambulance service: if patients don’t need pain meds, don’t hand them out indiscriminately. If they have “minor” pain, use Tylenol or another evidence-based method of pain relief. Don’t enable quackery* while spreading the perception that the Opioid Crisis is so awful that people now have to wonder if they’ll have to endure pain unnecessarily** as secondary victims of the crackdown.
*Aromatherapy doesn’t seem to pass the smell test. It still has managed to invade academia.
**Google “battlefield acupuncture”, if you dare.
:golf clap:
Regards,
Shodan
Why not just go with reiki and save on the cost of the oils?
The article says they’re also going to make liquid Tylenol available to the paramedics - it’s surprising to me that they previously had no non-narcotic options available.
Does laughter cure pain? Because if it does reiki would work wonders for me.
Most ambulance rides aren’t long gone for oral to be much use.
I believe I saw the video you reference here.
Hah, ha, nice! Dilute - dilute - dilute - dilute, “Now put 3 drops on his tongue. If that doesn’t cure him I don’t know what will”.
Dennis
I meant orally administered medications,of course.