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| Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 31 | 
Apr 01, 2009, 04:30 PM
 Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray? Originally Posted by tnbutterfly  This brought up much discussion about whether or not offering prayer falls within the scope of the nurse while providing spiritual care. Is it appropriate for nurses or doctors to pray with patients? Should a nurse ever offer to pray with a patient without a specific request from the patient or the family? How can a nurse appropriately provide spiritual care? Or should that aspect of care be left to the chaplain?
#1 we have no chaplain. period. So leaving spiritual care to that nonexistent person is not an option.
#2 As part of my admission assessment, I inquire concerning their religious preferences and if there is anything that I need to know about their spiritual or cultural practices to take good care of them. And I feel this is an important part of the assessment process. IF the patient does have a preference, I like to know a little bit more about their level of spiritual involvement. Ex. If they say they are Catholic, I ask what parish they attend. If they tell me the name of their parish, it communicates one level of involvement. If they tell me they don't have one, but they were "raised Catholic" it indicates another level. Why does this matter to me as a nurse? Let me give you an example. I work Labor & Delivery. A severely premature infant was going to be delivered shortly, a non-viable, "too early for NICU" baby. There was a chance the infant would not be stillborn, but would live briefly before dying from the prematurity. I knew the couple were Catholic. I knew they considered themselves "raised Catholic" but did not have ties with any congretation here in Las Vegas. I also knew that culturally, Catholicism was a very great influence to their parents' generation. I asked them if the baby was born alive, if they would like the baby baptized. They said it did not matter to me. I then asked if having the baby baptized would be of any comfort to their parents, the grieving grandparents. They both looked at each other like a bell had gone off in their heads, then turned to me and said, "Oh yes, please do baptize our baby. It will mean the world to my mom." The baby was baptized at delivery. And, indeed, the very devout Catholic grandparents were most grateful. (and, no, I am not Catholic. I just love to learn about other religions.)
I think the key to whether it is appropriate for a nurse to offer to pray with the patient is a full assessment of the patient and their family, and empathy for their current status and feelings. Some folks would call it "nursing judgement. Other folks would call it "listening to The Spirit". Others might call it "intuition" or "following your gut instincts."
One should NEVER shove ones own personal beliefs onto a patient in the clinical setting! There have been many times I have offered to pray with or to pray for a patient. But there have also been many, many times I have kept my mouth shut to them, and just held them up in prayer in my own heart.
Haze
 | | No. 32 |
Apr 02, 2009, 10:45 PM
 Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray? Originally Posted by HazeKomp They said it did not matter to me. I then asked if having the baby baptized would be of any comfort to their parents, the grieving grandparents. They both looked at each other like a bell had gone off in their heads, then turned to me and said, "Oh yes, please do baptize our baby. It will mean the world to my mom." The baby was baptized at delivery. And, indeed, the very devout Catholic grandparents were most grateful. (and, no, I am not Catholic. I just love to learn about other religions.)
I think the key to whether it is appropriate for a nurse to offer to pray with the patient is a full assessment of the patient and their family, and empathy for their current status and feelings. Some folks would call it "nursing judgement. Other folks would call it "listening to The Spirit". Others might call it "intuition" or "following your gut instincts."
One should NEVER shove ones own personal beliefs onto a patient in the clinical setting! There have been many times I have offered to pray with or to pray for a patient. But there have also been many, many times I have kept my mouth shut to them, and just held them up in prayer in my own heart.
Haze
wow, what a great story! I hope some day that I will be able to think that fast.
Also, well put about the issue.
Of course, I pray inwardly for my pts all day, but I feel that the patient almost always should initiate or request any spiritual care given overtly. When that happens, I think it should be patient centered and never, never, never a case of the nurse imposing her beliefs on the patient.
When a patient asks me what I believe, I try to turn it back to them by asking what it is that they believe about a situation, to facilitate them working it out with whatever beliefs they have.
I don't think a nurse should be automatically fired for praying with patients, but close scrutiny about appropriate boundaries is O.K.
| | No. 33 |
Apr 05, 2009, 09:16 AM
Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray?
I strongly believe that when requested it is OK to pray for our pts coz this is also part our nursing care in response to their need .With regards to offering a prayer to pts, I think nurses should not be reprimanded ,prohibits or get fired just because they are responding to their spiritual conviction. This should not be an issue anyway. Ofcourse there should not be a way for extremisim .To proselytes or converting someone to another religion for me is wrong, but a simple prayer to God silently or aloud would be up to us. As for me to be able to pray for our pts is a wonderful thing to do.
| | No. 34 |
May 17, 2009, 07:10 AM
Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray? Originally Posted by HazeKomp #1 we have no chaplain. period. So leaving spiritual care to that nonexistent person is not an option.
#2 As part of my admission assessment, I inquire concerning their religious preferences and if there is anything that I need to know about their spiritual or cultural practices to take good care of them. And I feel this is an important part of the assessment process. IF the patient does have a preference, I like to know a little bit more about their level of spiritual involvement. Ex. If they say they are Catholic, I ask what parish they attend. If they tell me the name of their parish, it communicates one level of involvement. If they tell me they don't have one, but they were "raised Catholic" it indicates another level. Why does this matter to me as a nurse? Let me give you an example. I work Labor & Delivery. A severely premature infant was going to be delivered shortly, a non-viable, "too early for NICU" baby. There was a chance the infant would not be stillborn, but would live briefly before dying from the prematurity. I knew the couple were Catholic. I knew they considered themselves "raised Catholic" but did not have ties with any congretation here in Las Vegas. I also knew that culturally, Catholicism was a very great influence to their parents' generation. I asked them if the baby was born alive, if they would like the baby baptized. They said it did not matter to me. I then asked if having the baby baptized would be of any comfort to their parents, the grieving grandparents. They both looked at each other like a bell had gone off in their heads, then turned to me and said, "Oh yes, please do baptize our baby. It will mean the world to my mom." The baby was baptized at delivery. And, indeed, the very devout Catholic grandparents were most grateful. (and, no, I am not Catholic. I just love to learn about other religions.)
I think the key to whether it is appropriate for a nurse to offer to pray with the patient is a full assessment of the patient and their family, and empathy for their current status and feelings. Some folks would call it "nursing judgement. Other folks would call it "listening to The Spirit". Others might call it "intuition" or "following your gut instincts."
One should NEVER shove ones own personal beliefs onto a patient in the clinical setting! There have been many times I have offered to pray with or to pray for a patient. But there have also been many, many times I have kept my mouth shut to them, and just held them up in prayer in my own heart.
Haze
What a wonderful story and a perfect example of assessing and meeting spiritual needs!
And you bring up a very important point..... If there is not a chaplain at the hospital (or hospice, nursing home, etc.), who meets these needs? Like you said, we can't leave that responsibility to a nonexistent person. And just because there is a hospital chaplain, there is no guarantee that he/she will be available.
| | No. 35 |
May 19, 2009, 07:25 AM
Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray?
There was a post about someone praying for patients even if they did not want it (didnt quote because I'm on dial up and it would take 20 min to get back to that post). I think thats crossing the line. One thing that really concerns me is that, when I reach a point of not being able to promote my own interests, will they still be respected by those around me. Speaking on a personal level, if I were a patient, I would be genuinely offended if someone asked me if they could pray with me, and when I declined it, chose to pray for me anyways, because I was in a hospital bed and unable to walk away.
I think that praying for someone who ASKS for it, or asking someone who has stated on admission that they are of a certain faith, if they would like to pray is fine if you are comfortable with that. I have not prayed for anyone in my life, but I have many times held someone's hand while they prayed and it seemed to give them strength. However, it is unfortunate but in some areas and with some people, bringing up religion is a toxic issue. For instance, in my local area, to even hint that you are not-Christian (be that due to being Jewish, Wiccan, Athiest, whatever) can cause you great trouble (ostracized, shunned, spoken badly to, the works). If I were in the hospital and someone asked if they could pray for me, I would probably lie and tell them to go ahead, even though it goes against my personal beliefs and would make me extremely uncomfortable because I would be afraid that it would be held against me if I "came out" and said that I was not a Christian. It may sound extreme, but I have been mistreated more than once for merely sharing my beliefs when asked although I've thankfully been able to walk away from those situations and did not have to depend on those people for my care. Those situations are, what I imagine management is trying to avoid.
Unfortunately, as with most things, those "at the top" tend to go overboard in trying to avoid issues like that I've mentioned. Perhaps referring back to admission assessments (my hospitals have always had the religion stated in the chart somewhere) and keeping prayer commentary to those who have a religious belief or otherwise request it or bring it up first would be wise.
| | No. 38 |
May 20, 2009, 08:04 AM
Re: The Nurse's Role in Providing Spiritual Care - Is It OK to Pray? Originally Posted by Elvish Not only that, but things do change over the course of an admission that may change the patient's desire to have some spiritual need met.
Exactly......... Just like a patient's physical status and needs change, so do their spiritual needs. For example, if the patient came in for a simple procedure but ended up having a massive stroke leaving them partially paralyzed, this may result in a physical and spiritual crisis. They will have new needs that will need to be addressed.
Assessment is an ongoing process.
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