Random Event Generator Measurement in a Surgical Recovery Room

Principal Investigator: Cindy Crawford, BA

Affiliations: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, National Naval Medical Center, and Samueli Institute for Information Biology

Background: In our past research with the random event generator (REG), we looked at a healing practice involving a bioenergy healer in Bethesda MD and found that alterations in random event measures (i.e. changes in entropy) were associated with the healing practice.  Thus, the REG device may act as a detector of altered entropy in the space of the healer's office and may provide a method of measuring the presence of healing activity generally.  The generalizability of REG excursions associated with healing environments should be studied to determine if this is a useful method for detecting enhanced healing spaces in a variety of settings.

Objective of the Study: To examine whether alterations in random events, as measured by a REG, occur in association with a post-operative recovery room setting.

Methods and Design: Two REGs were set up and run in parallel: one in a post-operative recovery room setting and another at a local library as a control.  Multi-day sets of data were collected in each setting.  REG excursions were calculated and compared for 1) overall days in the library and post-operative recovery room, and 2) day shifts, where there is a high volume of patients and doctors, and night shifts, where there is a low volume of patients and doctors, in the post-operative recovery room.