Losing my religion

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

Ah, the lively religious debate. As nurses, we all take care of a multitude of patients, all with specific, and sometimes not so specific, emotional/spiritual needs. And unless one works within a religious entity, here's my take on why a nurse's own religion needs to stay in the nurse's personal life.

1. Patients do not come to a facility seeking religious conversion. So a nurse should never take advantage of the fact that patients can be fragile, they may be in the bargaining portion of their grief process, and they do not give medals for saved souls.

2. Patients in general have their own set of religious values, beliefs, circumstances therefore, do not come into a facility to be converted into a nurse's own. If you are somehow "appalled" at someone's religious traditions, know your resources, and how to contact them to assist the patient.

3. If faced with a patient that is life or death, they have stressors that the nurse can empathize with, but we really have not a clue the unique circumstance that a patient is feeling. Act ethically as a nurse, not the time to push religious agendas.

4. We are required to meet the spiritual needs of a patient. Not ourselves.

5. Patient have the right to change their mind. When faced with a life and death there are and will be patients who decide to drop their religious restrictions. It is their right to do so. Please do not try and then convince them otherwise.

6. There are multitudes of people in the facility, the community, who know a heck of a lot more about one's particular religion than perhaps the nurse does. Use them.

7. It is interesting to know and understand someone else's religious beliefs. So take note for future reference. There are multitudes of religious and variations thereof in the world, so it can only help next time if a nurse has a general idea.

8. It is a huge grey area to participate in a religious act while someone's nurse. A nurse can pray for someone privately at home if you are so inclined.

9. There are certifications for nurses to become religiously affiliated should that be your forte.

10. Be respectful, but set limits to your participation, to your thought process in religion, and always have a plan "b".

If you are not comfortable with providing certain care due to your own belief system, then what? Always have a plan of action if this is the case. Remember, you may have a patient who is not religious at all. That requires just as much respect and support as the devoutly religious.

Compassion and empathy are not exclusive to any particular religion dogma, or no religion, nor will a nurse particularly "go to Hell" if they are providing ethical care to a patient. Patients have choices, and if a prudent nurse is acting in the best interest of what a patient wants for treatment at any particular point in time, all the better for it.

Losing my religion

About jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

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