It's not my job to pray with you.

Nurses Spirituality

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I am not religious. I do not pray. If praying makes you feel good then awesome. Do that. When patients are religious and need spirutual support, I am the first one to find their local pastor/rabbi/medicine man/etc. for them. This is how I can support my patient. I do not feel however, that I should be pressured to say prayers. yes, I will give my patient space and quiet time to pray if they want, but i don't feel it's my job to pray with patients. I feel this is over the line.

OP, I do not believe in gods, gnomes or fairies but as a nurse if the pt asks me to pray I would consider their request and try to find someone to accommodate even if I myself don't believe in it.

And this is exactly what the OP said s/he does ...

And this is exactly what the OP said s/he does ...

Yes, I took his comment at face value :)

Well if you don't like that, then why are you at that school? You weren't forced to go there.

Well for one it's a very prestigious university that will no doubt open many doors for me. And I was never exposed to religion as I am now at this school, most of my classmates are all Catholics and alway wants to pray before study time or to take an exam, so I just go with it. But I never felt this uncomfortable around religion until I came to this school, and now I'm just suffocating in it. There is even a cathedral a walk ways from my dorm. You just can't get away from it.

My recommendation is to be open and honest with your peers about your feelings and core principles in a respectful manner. Just be ready to be looked at differently by some. Unfortunately some religious people will discriminate against you for your lack of belief, others will try to "save" you out of true concern for your soul but most will accept and respect your beliefs or lack thereof. As long as you remain respectful people will respond well.

This is actually what I am really afraid of and would probably lose many of my friends that I just made. My parents told me to just go along with it because they don't want me feeling octracised. Because we actually don't start our nursing program until Jan. 10 in the university but until then I want to make a lot of friends as possible this summer (we started school June 15th).

Well if you don't like that, then why are you at that school? You weren't forced to go there.

Sometimes we get into things without fully realizing what they entail. There are a lot of aspects of holistic nursing other than praying with patients, and general perception of "holistic" tends to be more hippy New-Agey than Christian, or focused on other aspects entirely (such as CAM). We've all heard of people who get into nursing school and then drop out because they didn't realize they'd have to deal with poop, or touch people, or whatever. I think not connecting "holistic focus" and "praying with patients of a different faith background" is much more understandable than that!

My recommendation is to be open and honest with your peers about your feelings and core principles in a respectful manner. Just be ready to be looked at differently by some. Unfortunately some religious people will discriminate against you for your lack of belief, others will try to "save" you out of true concern for your soul but most will accept and respect your beliefs or lack thereof. As long as you remain respectful people will respond well.

Yep. And those who would discriminate due to lack of belief need to learn to provide religiously sensitive care to those who don't share their belief system as well, so exposure to other viewpoints in a less-sensitive setting than the hospital bedside is always good.

Yep. And those who would discriminate due to lack of belief need to learn to provide religiously sensitive care to those who don't share their belief system as well, so exposure to other viewpoints in a less-sensitive setting than the hospital bedside is always good.

I couldn't agree more :)

Sometimes we get into things without fully realizing what they entail. There are a lot of aspects of holistic nursing other than praying with patients, and general perception of "holistic" tends to be more hippy New-Agey than Christian, or focused on other aspects entirely (such as CAM). We've all heard of people who get into nursing school and then drop out because they didn't realize they'd have to deal with poop, or touch people, or whatever. I think not connecting "holistic focus" and "praying with patients of a different faith background" is much more understandable than that!

Yep. And those who would discriminate due to lack of belief need to learn to provide religiously sensitive care to those who don't share their belief system as well, so exposure to other viewpoints in a less-sensitive setting than the hospital bedside is always good.

While that's true, if you know that you're attending a Catholic school, I don't think you should be surprised that prayer and a cathedral are all part of that college experience.

I do believe that nurses should provide religiously sensitive care as well, and I think the OP handled things well. OP was uncomfortable with prayer, and so found someone else to assist the patient. That works.

The reason I ask if your hospital requires you to participate in prayer with patients, OP, is because you seem to be upset. I was just wondering if something happened.

I'm not religious and have no particular belief system but if I have the time and it doesn't involve sacrificing a lamb I would pray to a sun god if a patient requested, a minute of my time goes miles for them. I haven't been asked in a long time, though.

Wow this is all news to me--I didn't know nurses could discuss religion with patients (somewhat) openly. Sorry if this is a foolish question but since we're on this topic--let's say a patient and nurse happen to be the same religion. If the patient asks the nurse to pray with/over them and the nurse is comfortable, is this actually ok to do this instead of getting the chaplain? Sounds like some of you all have done this but I just wanted clarification. Unless it goes by hospital/facility policy.

I'm used to keeping religion and work strictly separate, unless the job is in a religious setting where it's expected... I guess I'm filled with incredulity because my previous position was so...well religion couldn't really be mentioned otherwise it could be seen as offensive talk.

I will be starting nursing school this fall, and my only experience in healthcare has been in an office setting (case management alongside actual nurses and social workers). Hence my ignorance lol.

Also OP, I am interested to know what happened to create this thread, as well. Did you get in trouble for something at your Catholic school?

Lol, I didn't make the thread and no I'm a good kid.

Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

I don't know that anyone here is talking about DISCUSSING religion with patients. More along the lines of praying with them or for them. Hardly the same thing as opening up a whole highway of dialouge about beliefs and who's God is the right God...

Wow this is all news to me--I didn't know nurses could discuss religion with patients (somewhat) openly. Sorry if this is a foolish question but since we're on this topic--let's say a patient and nurse happen to be the same religion. If the patient asks the nurse to pray with/over them and the nurse is comfortable, is this actually ok to do this instead of getting the chaplain? Sounds like some of you all have done this but I just wanted clarification. Unless it goes by hospital/facility policy.

I'm used to keeping religion and work strictly separate, unless the job is in a religious setting where it's expected... I guess I'm filled with incredulity because my previous position was so...well religion couldn't really be mentioned otherwise it could be seen as offensive talk.

I will be starting nursing school this fall, and my only experience in healthcare has been in an office setting (case management alongside actual nurses and social workers). Hence my ignorance lol.

Also OP, I am interested to know what happened to create this thread, as well. Did you get in trouble for something at your Catholic school?

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