Religion Needed to be a Good Nurse?

Nurses Spirituality

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We just covered a spiritituality/religion lesson in our BSN course and the instructor (religious) came out and said good nurses had spirituality and would be there for whatever spiritual needs the PT had. I understand the benefits of PTs being able to express their own spiritituality, but not being spiritual myself, I always assumed this could happen without me losing my own identity/belief system by praying with the PT. There are professionals in this area afterall and it's not as if nursing doesn't have enough on its plate already.

So the question is, does the nursing career, with all it's specialized education and skills, also view good nurses to be spiritual/religious or is this instructor taking some liberties with the topic?

Specializes in ER/Trauma.

Enough!

Please get back to the topic or a padlock is closing this thread.

Thank you

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

sigh........

Religion? NO. Spirituality? helpful.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
(and I somehow have this image that everytime this thread re-appears in the current posts that the mods cringe, just a little.)

LOL.

~faith,

Timothy.

Yes, we do cringe, but not necessarily for the reasons you may think........we just hate it when the same old arguments come up again and again and again.

Este caballo esta muerto!:deadhorse However, I'm leaving this thread open because someone occasionally comes up with an angle that's new and worth considering.......all I ask is that everyone please keep things civil and respectful of ALL points of view.

Thank you!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Yes, we do cringe, but not necessarily for the reasons you may think........we just hate it when the same old arguments come up again and again and again.

Este caballo esta muerto!:deadhorse However, I'm leaving this thread open because someone occasionally comes up with an angle that's new and worth considering.......all I ask is that everyone please keep things civil and respectful of ALL points of view.

Thank you!

Thanks Marla. Also you of course realize new people arrive not knowing the history of the board and feel they have things to say. They should not be shot down by old members who may be bored with the topic.

Specializes in Critical Care.
Thanks Marla. Also you of course realize new people arrive not knowing the history of the board and feel they have things to say. They should not be shot down by old members who may be bored with the topic.

Ok - so let me take this discussion down a new road and ask a loaded question:

Ethics aside, is religion needed to be a good lawyer? How about to be a good car mechanic?

1. Answer those questions directly.

2. How do you think your answers to #1 relates to your answer to the thread title?

~faith,

Timothy.

Appropo to nothing, I once knew a very rich stupid woman who said that she had decided to raise her kids spiritually - she was going to hire an inhouse spiritualist if that's what it took. And she could afford one too - she had Caldor's and Lichenstein's in her living room.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Ok - so let me take this discussion down a new road and ask a loaded question:

Ethics aside, is religion needed to be a good lawyer? How about to be a good car mechanic?

1. Answer those questions directly.

2. How do you think your answers to #1 relates to your answer to the thread title?

~faith,

Timothy.

Short answers to question 1: No, and No.

Long answer to question 2: My personal belief is that to be a good anything, a person needs a) a feeling of obligation to one's fellow humans and the larger world beyond one's front yard; b) a strong sense of right and wrong; c) a personal code of ethics, d) a willingness to learn and grow and accept correction in the pursuit of one's highest purpose in life, and e) humility---the knowledge that there is something (or someone) greater than oneself.

Some people call that religion. Myself, I call it spirituality, but I also understand that one does not necessarily have to subscribe to a belief in a Supreme Being in order to possess all those characteristics........or to be a good nurse, lawyer, auto mechanic, landscaper, waitress, or candlestick maker.

:)

Thanks Marla. Also you of course realize new people arrive not knowing the history of the board and feel they have things to say. They should not be shot down by old members who may be bored with the topic.

I agree - thanks Marla and Tweety. I was new once upon a time. New in alot of ways and had alot to learn.

I also agree with Marla's post about needing to have some ethical values, some kind of moral compass as a human being.

But the truth is you don't need religion to be a good person.

Or a good nurse.

steph

Specializes in Critical Care.

This is the point I think that I was making about whether you need religion to be a lawyer, or a car mechanic.

I think that you need ETHICS to be either. For example: my car mechanic, in fact, is someone I know from church. The reason WHY I use him is because I know he does a good job, but, more to the point, I know - or trust - he's not going to 'screw' me.

And when you look around, and you find a mechanic that you can TRUST - don't you stick to them like the plague: and recommend him/her to EVERYONE! So, if not religious, then at least, being highly ethical IS an important quality for a mechanic that wants to stay in business, long term.

Same with a lawyer: no matter what kind of cliched, snake in the grass a lawyer might be, there are at least some ethics - of the profession - that a lawyer MUST hold if he wants to stay in practice. For example: he can't go blabbing his client's business. That IS an ethos, after a sort.

But with both of these 'example' professions I suggested, once you establish some ethics, THEIR MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY IS HOW WELL THEY DO THEIR JOB. I don't care how ethical a mechanic is if he/she can't fix my car.

I don't care how moral a lawyer is if he doesn't know enough law to win a case.

AND - I don't care how 'caring' a nurse is that isn't technically good at what they do.

We have this image that the MOST important thing about nursing is our 'caring' and all the 'spirituality' that mentors to that.

NO NO NO!

Our biggest selling point should be the technical aspects of our training and experience that literally make us indispensible to the public and to any and all healthcare institutions.

Like the ethics of a car mechanic or a lawyer: our ethics, our 'caring' is important, but that is not what makes us a nurse, or even a 'good' nurse: our science, our training, and our experience make us 'good' nurses. The ethics that go with it? That 'completes' the package, but, it in no way COMPOSES the package.

Good lawyers and mechanics MUST address their ethical view of how their profession works in order to rise above. And so must nurses. But good lawyers are good lawyers BECAUSE they know the law. Good mechanics are good mechanics BECAUSE they know cars. And, Good nurses are good nurses because of the training and experience to be that modern, high-tech, early warning, monitor and interventioner.

~faith,

Timothy.

Specializes in Critical Care.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: how much of 'caring' is ethics? And how much is morality? What kind of morality? And, what's the difference?

~faith,

Timothy.

Ok - so let me take this discussion down a new road and ask a loaded question:

Ethics aside, is religion needed to be a good lawyer? How about to be a good car mechanic?

1. Answer those questions directly.

2. How do you think your answers to #1 relates to your answer to the thread title?

~faith,

Timothy.

Religion vs. Spirituality Ethics vs Integrity.. I would rather have a spiritual

surgeon,lawyer, banker, realtor or mechanic with personal integrity if I had to choose.

I think one needs and as a minimum requirement as a nurse to act ethically but what makes for a better nurse is one with the integrity to do what is right even if it may not be the popular thing to do. i.e. reporting the blood

alcohol of the er patient to the police officer .

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