Article: Prayer - Alive, Well, or at Least of Interest

what are you trying to say dude!!

eagerbeaver, NrsKaren is a doodett. Very interesting article. l don't think it is possible to separate science from religion where the pt is concerned AND if said pt practices faith.

I know in the course of my day at work there are several times where I call out in prayer. I pray for my patients (and my PATIENCE) when things are getting rough. I pray when a pt is near the end of their life that they may be released from their suffering. I pray whenever I feel the need for Divine intervention. And being a nurse I feel that need quite often. I have noticed in my personal experience that those patients who have a belief in a higher power and have clergy and church members seem to be more at peace with their situation, whatever it may be. Very interesting topic. Thanks for posting it.

Very interesting, Karen. I enjoyed the article and have also just read another article recently about how prayer helps; but I'll be danged if I can remember where it was.

I have had a series of patients recently who were in the process of dying (not a "USUAL" situation in my unit; yes, we have deaths (what ICU doesn't?); but I have cared for dying patients 4 weekends in a row, and it has been really apparent to me that there is a big difference between those that pray and those that don't want or request spiritual guidance/help at this point of life. (BTW, I only work weekends now, so this has been quite a tough stretch for me).

I was a new baby Christian one night long ago when we had the ER night from you know where. We had a gazillian patients coming out of every crack, when a 94 year old female with Alzheimer's came in with a sizable gash on her head. She'd pitched off the toilet and whanged into the sink and couldn't be steri stripped. Finally we slipped her into a four-bed room with seven guerneys in it and began to attempt the local and sutures. We didn't get a single drop injected when this poor thing came up screaming and flailing. I thought the gurney was going to go over. The doc nearly cussed and said, "ah, that's just great! Now we're going to have to sedate her, suture her and recover her before we can send her back to the nursing home."

I had a friend whose father had Alzheimer's, and even up to the end when he couldn't speak or swallow food, he could still sing hymns at our little church. I told the doc to reconsider. I had him cover me up with my head next to hers and I held her hand. I didn't know all the words, but I hoped she did. Sure enough, her voice raised in perfect enunciation..."On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame..." She had a beautiful voice and did, in fact, know the words to the whole song. By the time she held the last note, you could hear a pin drop in the ER and the doc pulled the drape, finished with the stitches as the woman chuckled to herself and bablled something that only she knew. We sent her on back to the nursing home and the rest of the night went a lot more smoothly!:balloons: