Today, while attending my final day of orientation at a new facility (I am a travel nurse... this is my 20th orientation in 8 years) the nurse educator, while discussing meeting patients' spiritual needs, asked the 30+ nurses in attendance, while raising her own hand in the air, "How many of you are Baptist?" (two hands went up) "How many are Catholic?" (three hands) "How many are Muslim?" And she continued to ask.... "Jewish? Hindi? How about Atheist?" I then interrupted her and said, "Umm... I don't think you can ask these questions." She then replied, "Well, you don't have to raise your hand!" Is this legal? Honestly, she was an excellent educator. Having attended so many orientations over the years, I must say she is really good at her job. But am I being petty or did she cross a serious line? I plan to say nothing to anyone, on my unit or in HR... at least, not until my contract has been completed, as my job is to show up and be the very best nurse I can be. But I strongly feel one is not permitted to ask a co-worker, especially a new hire, about their religious affiliation or beliefs. I have had patients ask me about my religious or political preferences, and I always answer the same, in a gentle tone with a pleasant smile: "My personal choices have nothing to do with the quality of care I will provide you over the course of your hospital stay, nor am I permitted to discuss them. Now, is there anything I can do for you?" Am I wrong, or was she out of line?
I'm pretty shocked to see so many nurses so uncomfortable with their religious beliefs.
Do your patients make you uncomfortable when they share their own beliefs? How about when their beliefs go against what you believe in?
I'm not attacking -- just curious how you are able to practice cultural humility without being comfortable in your own beliefs.
Maybe I just find it odd, because it was stressed so much in my program already.
I don't see anyone here uncomfortable discussing their religious beliefs. I think the original poster felt uncomfortable with HOW the instructor presented the material, "I'm a Baptist and proud of it!"... is inappropriate in THAT setting. How is that supposed to make a NON Baptist feel? And how does that help anyone help their patients with spiritual issues?
I don't see anyone here uncomfortable discussing their religious beliefs. I think the original poster felt uncomfortable with HOW the instructor presented the material, "I'm a Baptist and proud of it!"... is inappropriate in THAT setting. How is that supposed to make a NON Baptist feel? And how does that help anyone help their patients with spiritual issues?
Exactly. Sort of reminds me of the pt. who asked everyone who they are voteing for. She was/is an Obama supporter and anyone who was not going to vote for him "only dont like him cause he is black and are prejudiced, and I dont want them taking care of me."
She was given a copy of the pt. rights/privacy act. DON asked her to please practice her right to privacy. Informed her that drilling care staff about their political beliefs will lead to a recommendation for transfer to another facility of her choice, one that only has staff who support Obama. I think the point set in when the legal dept. printed up a form for her to sign that stated she had been informed of her right to privacy and had willingly announced that she supported Obama, that no staff asked her for this information.
See, the "Right to Privacy" sometimes is also a suggestion to be private, as sort of "Requirement of Privacy". It doesnt always mean you have the right to privacy and can talk about things "if you wish". It sometimes means, you have a right to privacy, and will be committed to said privacy.
I would hope any person would be able to say if they wanted. I am such and such and proud of it. I think the point of diversity is to recognize how different we all might be.
Why should not an agnostic, atheist, Christian, catholic, baptist, lesbian, homosexual, gay,married, single divorced etc, etc not be able to have and feel pride for what they are.
I believe that is the point of recognizing diversity. Each and every individual should be able to feel proud of their beliefs, their heritage, their sexual orientation.
It is an individuals choice as to whether or not they want to share their personal stuff. I do not think that should be due to feeling shame, or fear the judgment of others.
ah, a perfect world would it not be wonderful sadly our world is not perfect and people like to judge others who might be different than they are..
Every person should be able to state their religious preference and feel pride, but don't be naive and believe there are no horrified looks and other reactions when a person admits to being a proud atheist.
Every person should be able to state their religious preference and feel pride, but don't be naive and believe there are no horrified looks and other reactions when a person admits to being a proud atheist.
Interesting responses. Since I identify as a 'religious person', I have a clear bias; but I'm still surprised no one saw this as an opportunity to identify resources.
Every hospital has a (or several) chaplain/s. We all know they can't always be there right when you need them, especially in the ER at 02:00. Personally, I find it useful to know in the back of my head that we have (really!) in our little ER an Orthodox Jewish doc, a Muslim doc, a Sikh doc, a Baptist minister's wife nurse, a rabbi nurse, and several other flavors and varieties. Sometimes having one of these just poke a head in to a co-religionist patient in crisis provides a moment of comfort or encouragement for that patient or family. I was asked once to actually leave our dept. and go to one of the units late at night to pay a visit to a co-religionist far from home who'd been brought in as a direct admit. It provided him a bit of solace in his religious isolation.
Certainly I don't think one has to be required to identify their religious creed, but the OP wasn't really. As I say, an awareness of the diversity in-house may even serve as a resource in some way. Just an added perspective here.
Specializes in Home Care, Primary care NP, QI, Nsg Adm.
First, I commend Missrose for writing 'Muslim' and not 'Moslem'. The first spelling is phonetically correct.
I never had that experience but I left the States before cultural diversity became a buzz word. I agree with Vashtee that given a particular location one might feel singled out, especially if when the question asked was about a religious affiliation unusual to the place and all heads turned to look at the 'lone stranger'. But, coming from New York, it is such a mix I don't think I would feel uncomfortable.
I'd like to ask if the class had a cultural mix or not. If not, the educators pride about her faith could be a questionable response. If the group had a nice mix then perhaps it could lead to some good conversation and civilized debate.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
If this is a generalized discussion about religion in order to further educate nurses that is one thing. But what she seemed to do is narrow it down...I mean, she asked people to identify themselves by a show of hands (even if it was voluntary, without direct identification); making those that have not raised their hands leave room for those who did to wonder and ponder... and that, in my eye, is not fair.
I have no issues discussing my religious preferences casually, but feel that there is no place for them in a business setting. It is not comfortable for atheists, agnostics, pagans, (or anyone else for that matter) to be singled out, because sometimes, they are beseiged with Bible pamplets, witnessing and such, and these subjects are so passionate that many people can't come out of these debates unscathed.
I totally understand your point because these things are sore spots for me as well. I have a friend who is Haitian and one time, someone spilled baby powder in front of a locker of a person who did not like my friend. They accused her of 'hexing' this woman. The furor of that witch-hunt got so bad that they threw my friend out of Labor and Delivery, never to return (and this was 10 years ago). And, my Haitian friend is a Born-Again Christian. She had no belief in magic at all.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I'm pretty shocked to see so many nurses so uncomfortable with their religious beliefs.
Do your patients make you uncomfortable when they share their own beliefs? How about when their beliefs go against what you believe in?
I'm not attacking -- just curious how you are able to practice cultural humility without being comfortable in your own beliefs.
Maybe I just find it odd, because it was stressed so much in my program already.
I am not sure that anyone here is uncomfortable with their personal religious beliefts. For sure, we know by being seasoned adults working anywhere that we will encounter people who believe differently than we do, especially working with public service. I am not uncomfortable when patients discuss their spiritual/religious beliefs, either; but the same way as we are taught to not make anyone feel singled out due to their religious, race, or sexual practices, we should at least demonstrate this to each other as collagues.
Specializes in Blood Center Collections, Quality and Regulatory A.
If the original discussion was about how to support patients in a spiritual manner if they so wish - then let the patient take the lead. If they want to wait for someone of their own preference to come and sit with them then you, as the nurse, have the time to go search for someone. If on the other hand they have an immediate need (and you have the time :wink:) then ask how you can help and follow their lead. You are not impacting your own beliefs, you are providing patient-centered care and supporting them. Your personal beliefs have nothing to do with it. If they pray to Jesus, for example, but you don't so what, let them lead the prayer, bow your head and wish them great comfort from what they are doing. You are providing support! That's it....
When I was little, no one would have thought anything about such a question being asked. It amazes me how our nation keeps changing.
This is likely because you grew up in a fairly homogeneous area with regards to religion. The melting pot that is America has experienced a significant amount of continued mixing from even twenty years ago. Nowadays, it is common to share workplaces, classes, neighborhoods, and activity groups with people coming from many different cultural and religious backgrounds. However, these same people are only one or two generations removed from past religious intolerance in this very country, so it is on their minds. Or worse, they are part of religious groups actively held in low regard right now.
Especially in my area of the country, Muslims are held in quite low regard. Those who to the uncivilized look like Muslims, such as the Sikh, have even had their businesses attacked and violence threatened against them (in one particularly sad ongoing case, by our very own police).
Being non-religious in this area isn't any better-- a study by the University of Michigan a few years back found that Americans considered atheists the least trustworthy group in the country, below Muslims, and a certain president H.W. Bush said on the campaign trail two decades ago that atheists shouldn't be considered citizens or patriots.
To conclude, it amazes me how our nation is changing, too. I'm glad to see more and more heterogeneous communities and I'm saddened to see pockets of resistance, based on xenophobia and religious fear, remaining.
Perhaps again one day, no one would think anything of the question, but I hope it's because we've reached a plateau of acceptance and not because we've regressed to homogeneous enclaves.
jode
95 Posts
I don't see anyone here uncomfortable discussing their religious beliefs. I think the original poster felt uncomfortable with HOW the instructor presented the material, "I'm a Baptist and proud of it!"... is inappropriate in THAT setting. How is that supposed to make a NON Baptist feel? And how does that help anyone help their patients with spiritual issues?