Nursing refers to the purposeful engagement and interaction of nurses, persons, and the environment to promote well-being and healing. The relationship between the nurse and the patient transforms the experience of patients and knowledge gain to foster health. Although nurses believe in various religious ideologies, faith plays a crucial role in creating an ample healing environment. Practices in the nursing environment integrate some Christian beliefs and, in some cases, results in tension due to opposing perspectives.
Nurses incorporate holistic care, reaching beyond social, mental, and physical wellbeing during patient care. In my work environment, we adhere to the nursing core values like human dignity, altruism, social justice, human dignity, and honesty during patient care. These worldview ideologies resonate with the Christian beliefs of compassion and unconditional to others. The professional nursing model incorporates various concepts like practice competence, professional authority, and excellence when addressing patient needs. Nurses focus on ensuring their patients' total healing through intention and compassion (Pfeiffer, 2018). In my work environment, we attend to patients' emotional needs by empathizing with them while showing them love and treating them with dignity to enhance trust and delivery of quality services. Moreover, we attend to the needs of all patients regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, or age according to the Christian teaching in John 13:34 “ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” The process of caregiving requires honesty and treating all patients with dignity, hence facilitating the creation of a strong relationship and bond between the patient and the nurse that strive to ensure total healing. Nursing is a Christian ministry of love and companionate care by comforting the suffering and fostering quality health. In Galatians 6:2, the Bible urges us to “ Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." Nurses often feel the pain and desperation of patients, especially in cases of a terminal illness. As a result, we use all the possible interventions to alleviate pain and improve life quality.
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Tensions often arise in the clinical setting due to the differing worldviews of patients, colleagues, employers, and students. It is the role of nurses to selflessly care for patients when required, even on religious worship day. The Bible urges Christians to “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” (Exodus, 20:88). This has often resulted in a conflict of interest between employers and nurses because while protecting the interest of the rights of patients and my colleagues, I feel that my rights to worship on Sabbath are violated. On most occasions, I have experienced tension between my calling to obedience on Sabbath and the calling of God to obey my employer and care for the suffering patients. One of my terminally ill patients requested me to aid him in dying by administering euthanasia because he felt his pain was too much to bear. As much as I sympathized with his suffering, his request was against Christian teaching against killing. This created a conflict between the patient’s wishes and beliefs. Human relationships differ according to worldviews, religious beliefs, and cultural practices. However, despite the conflict between the differing worldviews in the healthcare setting, nurses adhere to legal requirements and nursing values of maintaining integrity, honesty, social justice, and preservation of human dignity during patient care.
Nurses adhere to core nursing values like integrity, honesty, social justice, and human dignity when handling patients. These values are reflected in Christian beliefs that advocate for love and compassion towards others. However, adhering to Christian worldviews in my profession has resulted in tensions with my employer, patients, and colleague, forcing me to sacrifice and beliefs and adheres to the set laws and regulations.
Response
Nursing is the process of caring for patients and aiding them to achieve wellness, just like Jesus, who cared for and healed the sick. The nursing environment that focuses on a holistic view encourages compassion and gives the best care possible to enhance a positive outcome. Nurses grow spiritually and emotionally to empathize and connect with the various needs of patients. The author states that he experiences tension when interacting with non-Christian patients upset or worried about their health condition and respond harshly to his offer to pray for them. Therefore, he utilizes reason and faith to achieve a positive impact on health care.
The author successfully demonstrates that a holistic approach to focusing on the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of patients compares to the Christian teachings of love and care to all. I agree that nurses must practice the best and current practices to provide the best services while practicing compassion in caregiving to give the best outcome. The nursing profession facilitates the growth of spiritual and emotional wellbeing that facilitates connection and empathy with patients. Religious and spiritual ideologies can be incorporated in nursing by listening and engaging with patients (Rumun, 2014). Although the author has attempted to show compassion to suffering and disillusioned patients by offering to pray with them, he sometimes receives harsh responses from patients with different beliefs. I agree that Christian. The reader can deduce that while nursing practices incorporate Christian ideologies, nurses are prone to experience tension with patients from differing worldviews.
References
Pfeiffer, J. (2018). Strategies Christian nurses use to create a healing environment. Religions, 9(352), 1-13.
Rumun, A.J. (2014). Influence of religious beliefs on healthcare practice. International Journal of Education Research , 2(4), 37-48.
