Rapid Hypnotic Techniques for Frontline Healthcare Providers

While Hypnosis has been considered the purview of extensively trained experts, it is now gaining traction at the frontlines of medicine in the hands of regular staff. The presentation addresses how the natural upward trend of pain and anxiety during medical encounters can be avoided through a short intervention at the onset of the interaction, when the patient experience can be improved by slight, but reflective changes in provider behavior and use of hypnoidal language. You will learn how to build rapport with patients instantly, elicit positive behaviors and cooperation from them and, if needed, from accompanying individuals. You will be introduced to the informal approaches of procedural hypnosis with focus on the powers of word choice, how you can avoid the adverse effects of negative suggestions, reframe distressing thoughts, fears, and worries, and moderate the effect of painful stimuli (“Comfort Talk®”) Formal approaches through script and app use will also be demonstrated. Attentions will be directed towards the symbolic use of patient’s symptom description and the impact on the choice of intervention.

The Comfort Talk technique is based on 30-years of extensive clinical trials and practice. It uses non-pharmacological means of reducing patient’s anxiety and pain which conform to UK recommendations for surgical surgical/ interventional care, such as those from the Royal Colleges of Anesthetists and of Nursing. In addition, the Great Resignation has made it even more important to provide staff with a skill set that enables them enjoy their jobs again by helping their patients in a fundamental fashion.

At the end of this presentation, the attendees will leave with skills that allow them
• to diffuse tensions quickly
• to develop rapport with problem patients
• address pain and anxiety nonpharmacological
• enhance their own resilience and effectiveness

Elvira Lang, MD, PhD, is an award-winning interventional radiologist known for researching the effectiveness and cost savings of rapid hypnotic techniques in medicine and dentistry. She crystallized these techniques and founded Comfort Talk®. Her large-scale clinical trials with now >135,000 patients demonstrated that the Comfort Talk® skills, including guidance in self-hypnotic relaxation, reduce pain, anxiety, drug use, and complications on the operating table and improve patients’ satisfaction and ability to complete MRI examinations. Her recent interests examine patient/provider interactions and their impact on health outcomes, staff satisfaction and resilience, as well as overall impact on operational efficiency of healthcare systems. Her research work has been acknowledged with the Ernest R. Hilgard Award for Scientific Excellence for a Lifetime of Published Experimental Work. Through her publications and efforts as Past President of the New England Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis she has encouraged to include training in hypnosis for nurses and licensed healthcare professionals within the scope of their practice. She (co-)authored “Patient Sedation Without Medication,” “Managing Your Medical Experience,” and >150 research papers. She received multiple awards and has been featured extensively in the press and on television.