Faith,Oh Faith

[LoveYaHon]

hey everyone?i was wondering,has being a nurse increased your belief in g-d,a higher being,life after death,whatever!

has it?

1.yes,most defientiely.

2.yeah,well i guess.

3.no

4.it has extremely decreased my faith.

thank you nice people :kiss

[indeed]

The only effect nursing has had on me in terms of faith has been to help me accept people's varying levels of faith more readily. Regardless of what you believe, nursing isn't going to change someone who really has faith or a complete lack thereof, IMO. And if it did really change your faith, then what faith you had/didn't have was probably not what you thought it was. I personally am happy if my patients can find comfort in some sort of supreme being and are therefore more able to heal (or let go as the case may be). What faith my patient's have, though, does not change the fact that I do NOT possess faith in some supreme "other" and probably never will. Does that make any sense?

Indeed.

[l.rae]

I would say it has helped to confirm my faith.... but I have had days to the opposite too.....but after all, faith is believing, not proof. Peace............LR

[micro, RN]

Originally posted by indeed

The only effect nursing has had on me in terms of faith has been to help me accept people's varying levels of faith more readily. Regardless.............

Indeed.

hey, INDEED,

thx for letting me quote from you the most noted words that struck me from what you said.........

if you haven't met me yet, micro is sorta known for sentence fragments and other not making of sense.......

so when someone speaks as eloquently as you do.........

i chose to steal and plagiarize.........

thanx again INDEED,

hey, what a a great name.

micro and out

[donmurray]

Thanks, INDEED, My outlook is very similar to yours.

One recent complication for me was caring for a patient with severe Alzheimers. She belonged to an obscure sect, who among other taboos, did not ever watch televison. Every morning, she would finish her breakfast, and go to the TV lounge to watch the cartoon shows. Unless removed and kept constantly diverted with other activities she would return there.

Our dilemma as nurses was that her visitors demanded that she be denied access to the TV on the grounds that it broke with the tenets of her deeply held religious beliefs of many years. To do this, however, would deny her an activity which she patently enjoyed, and also her right to choose, limited as it was.

[NurseDennie, BSN, RN]

Wow, DonMurray - is that patient still there? What do you do?

I HATE that situation! I'd probably just take the attitude that if it means that much to her visitors, then they would have to monitor and keep her away from the tv. I'm probably wrong, huh?

Love

Dennie

[live4today, RN]

My vote was "NO" to working as a nurse increasing my faith in life after death because I already wholeheartedly believe in life after death from this life here on Earth. Faith is hope in things UNSEEN, not in things seen.

As for the little lady who entertains herself with cartoons each day, more power to her. If that is a comfort to her, it should not be taken away from her regardless of what her proclaimed faith is. I say, leave her alone. I like cartoons myself!

[duckie]

I could not go to work every day without my faith in God!!! In the past two weeks I have had 4 deaths on my unit with 3 more to come any time. I spend a lot of time with family members and find that they are comforted by the "beyond." I pray with my patients and families as it is requested and when appropriate. I sing to my residents when they are dying of a better place to which they should have no fear in going. You either believe or you don't, a job cannot alter your faith. Like one of the posters commented, faith is on what is unseen. I have never seen God, but I feel His constant presence with me at all times. I could never walk alone, the journey would be much too lonely. God Bless all!!!

[micro, RN]

Hey, Don M.

i say let the woman watch the cartoons.........

whatever happened to patient's rights.............

oh, i know rhetorical question.........

i still would stand behind her wholeheartedly and demand her right to watch television or anything that she desired and made her comfortable.........

micro and out.....

this i know, for.....

no, in this my vote would be no:stone

[Ted]

Originally posted by indeed

The only effect nursing has had on me in terms of faith has been to help me accept people's varying levels of faith more readily. . . . .

Same here.

Although. . . . there have been a few patients who "knew" they were going to be with their "Higher Power" when they died. These wonderful people have brought a certain amount of hope in my heart that when it's my time to go, I'll be going somewhere. . . and not "no longer exist". That thought scares the s**t out of me!

With regards to the after life, I go back and forth in my confidence to "its" existance.

But I am respectful and supportive and accepting to people's varying levels of faith. And what a wide spectrum of faith exists.

Ted

[Ted]

oops. this was a repeated post. sorry

ted

[Ben Thair RN]

The vast majority of my nursing career including all of those spent in the Peds ICU and the high risk OB delivery unit were years of faith only in myself, the science, and the skill.

I certainly had respect for the beliefs of those that I cared for...I just didn't share them...I was patently agnostic, if you could prove it to me I would believe.

My faith then is completely unrelated to my profession in that respect. My work is affected by my state of grace, but my faith is not affected by my work. I am profoundly thankful to God that He loved me even when I was not loveable, that He grows me in sometimes painful ways, and that His plan is always viable even when not visible.