Christian Nurses/Nursing Questions

[is5512]

Dear Gentlefolk, please bear with me if the question seems a bit fuzzy. I'm still trying to get a handle on it myself.

Is there a difference between Nursing in a Christian environment (for example, a Church-run hospital) and a secular one? Are there differences in Nurses based on where they were educated? I wasn't convinced this question belonged in the Parish Nursing section because I hoped for a broader range of responses; hope you don't mind.

Right now, I'm trying to compete for one of the coveted slots in a community college Nursing program. But I'm also open to the idea of tranferring to a Franciscan college program, and wondering how things would turn out differently.

[MultipNP, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP]

I have worked in a couple of "Christian" hospitals. I have to say there is no real difference. Only that in a Catholic hospital, you'll run into the occasional nun, and hear about mass, etc. But there has been no outstanding difference among the hospitals where I've worked.

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

Not a Christian, but I work in a religiously-affiliated-with-major-denomination hospital.

There's no real difference practice-wise between this and the other hospitals I've worked in. In fact, in my experience, the bigger difference is between for-profit and non-profit hospitals. The non-profit ones always seem to be a better place to work, religious or secular.

[malaski]

We have a Christian university where I live that has a great nursing school reputation. They have an excellent NCLEX pass rate as well. I've heard nothing but good things from students that went there. Try searching under the school name, you might find more info about it

I go to a state University in my city, it is affiliated with many of the major hospitals in the area - so we get good clinical locations. I have a friend who goes to a Catholic university and he says it is tough but they are well prepared for the nclex

[John20]

Around here (Michigan) the biggest difference between Christian and for-profit hospitals is the spiritual consults. The Christian hospital actually has on staff religious leaders from just about every faith (even muslim and jewish) and the for-profit hospital has usually just one non-denominational guide working at a time for spiritual consult. There is sometimes a prayer over the loudspeaker at hs at the Catholic hospital.

Oh, the negative is the Catholic hospital does not offer any help with invitro fertilization in their benefits and the for profit hospital does. The practice of both is almost a mirror image.

[jan Christian]

I work before in a Catholic Hospital and the nun's are very strict,like for instance you need to attend a meeting with the nun's after your 12 hour night shift then if they see you sleeping and yawning they will call your attention and scold you,they dont care if you are sleepy. and the salary is very low.we don't have uniform and food allowance.That's why I quit and went back to my university and became a clinical instructor which is very lucrative and rewarding as well.

[tryingtohaveitall]

I work before in a Catholic Hospital and the nun's are very strict,like for instance you need to attend a meeting with the nun's after your 12 hour night shift then if they see you sleeping and yawning they will call your attention and scold you,they dont care if you are sleepy. and the salary is very low.we don't have uniform and food allowance.That's why I quit and went back to my university and became a clinical instructor which is very lucrative and rewarding as well.

I don't mean to be offensive with this question, what state or country was this in?

[HonestRN]

I have worked in two Catholic owned not-for-profit hospitals. The first one was excellent, treated their employees very well and provided a significant amount of community charity care. The other one, not so nice. The second hospital does not treat their employees well, are stingy with charity care and worst of all does not allow physicians with hospital privileges to provide birth control or perform sterilization procedures at their hospital, other hospitals where the dr's may have privileges or in their private practice.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I agree for the most part with previous posters - Just want to point out that Catholic organizations are bound by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare. This is a very comprehensive document that clearly outlines all the do's and don'ts. Not all of them are "religious" in nature. The directives are very clear guidelines on business and operational rules also. During new employee orientation, we make sure that everyone understands the directives - if they cannot in good conscience, abide by them - then I guess they have to go work somewhere else. Nope, I am not Catholic, but I do enjoy currently working for a Catholic healthcare system.

From what I have experienced (working in 2 faith-based, 3 secular not-for-profits & 2 for-profits), the primary difference in clincal practice is the degree of overt expression of spirituality. In the Baptist system, they had 'sky pilots' (priests, revs, chaplins, rabbis, etc) readily available, but spirituality was not integrated into the clinical setting. In my current organization, the spiritual component is everywhere: all meetings begin with a reflection, spiritual care is included in nursing care plans, spiritual/emotional care is openly provided for employees - ex: automatic triggering of critical incident debriefing after codes, generous bereavement leave policy, etc. The spiritual component is deliberately ecumenical rather then Catholic - received well by employees & physicians of diverse religious backgrounds. We have very specific behavioral expectations which prohibit discrimination or disrespect of anyone's culture or faith - and these are enforced.