EXCELLENT Resources for Parish Nursing

Compassion fatigue describes the emotional, physical, social and spiritual exhaustion that overtakes a person and causes a pervasive decline in his or her desire, ability and energy to feel and care for others. Such fatigue causes the sufferer to lose the ability to experience satisfaction or joy professionally or personally. Compassion fatigue is not pathological in the sense of mental illness, but is considered a natural behavioral and emotional response that results from helping or desiring to help another person suffering trauma or pain.

Here are ideas that do not require much time, but can improve spiritual care:

• Be present. The concept of presence means a self-giving to the other person at the moment. It means being available for that time. Presencing also involves listening in a meaningful way and “being there.” Being where you are in both mind and body also may bring a presence of calmness and peace to the situation.
• Be watchful. Scripture talks about “being watchful” and on guard for Christ's return (Mk 13:32–27). I think this also applies to spiritual care. Although it may be unrealistic to do a thirty-minute spiritual assessment or life review, although these are very helpful tools, we can be alert for cues from our patients. Often, spiritual needs are not planned for, but come as a surprise, and we can be watching for them.
• Enlist help. Prayer support is a big part of our lives as nurses. Ask Christian groups to which you belong to pray for you and your patients. The extra grace can help with setting priorities and making work days flow better. Hands-on help, when needed, can come from the pastoral care department. Although we shouldn't always call on pastoral care, pastors usually have more time to talk with patients.
• Be informed. In Patricia Benner's book, The Primacy of Caring, she shares a case study of a nurse who was doing interviews with select rheumatoid arthritis patients for a clinical trial for the National Institutes of Health. The interview questions showed empathy for what it meant to have this disease. She asked key questions that cut to the core of what the patient was feeling because she had knowledge about the disease, how the disease progressed and what it was like to live with the disease. One woman interviewed for the study went away from her interview with hope because she had been understood. In this short encounter, a spiritual need was met.
• Smile. Mother Teresa often reminded her sisters to show their joy. She said, “A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. We may never know all the good a simple smile can do, but we show our love by a smile.” Mother Teresa encouraged her sisters never to let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen!

Parish Nursing is a congregational ministry shaped by Christ's concern for all aspects of the human condition and directed to the service of the whole person. This E-Learning model will enable the congregation-nurse, pastor, and laity-to commit to a wholistic ministry, addressing body, mind, spirit, that contributes to it unique Biblical mission. The distance model will serve you as a nurse in developing a parish nurse ministry in your own church. Similar to on-the-job training, we will ask you to initiate a health and wellness task force and committee, conduct assessments, develop budgets, faith based lesson plans, and other projects. This E-Learning program provides guidelines as to how a parish nurse functions in a congregational setting, where the nurse initiates the program, working with the pastor and congregation. The steps in these modules give clear direction to what we feel must happen in order to build a successful program.