Prevalence of Christians in the field of nursing

Nurses Spirituality

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I will be making a career change, from the banking industry to nursing. Thought about it over the past year. In my industry, Christians are far and few between. I suppose much of this has to do with the main focus being, money.

Wondering about the prevalence of Christians in the nursing field? I know much of this has to do with what area of the country one works. Also, non-Chrisitans may not be looking out for Christians in the workforce. I know in my industry, I feel alone, to say the least.

St_Claire,

Very interesting! Thank you.

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Specializes in CCM, PHN.
I think you will find a lot of Christians in nursing. As other have mentioned Nursing and many hospitals in this country have roots in faith, Adventist Hospitals, Catholic Hospitals, ect. So you won't have a problem finding Christians. I do wonder if the percentage of Christian nurses is higher than the general population or other jobs such as banking. That would be a interesting survey to do.

Off topic, but I think Florence Nightingale believed she was called by God to help others. Then she got her training at a religious school. So she was inspired by faith, at least in her young adult years. I had never read that she turned Buddhist.

She STUDIED Buddhism. I never said she TURNED Buddhist. Please don't misquote.

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People don't read and they often misqoute to prove what they think they heard and what they are supposed to believe. Its a defense mechanism to feel comfortable.

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Wow...lol. Okay, I am very quiet about my Christian faith as I stated before. Some folks are more outspoken and some not so much. I tend to fall into the latter camp. But that's just me. I don't understand all the comments getting off topic. I was simply just asking about the prevalence of Christians within the field of nursing. I apologize if this question frustrated anyone. I truly did not mean for this to happen. Over the past few years I have been struggling within my current profession. I have sought out other avenues and for some reason, keep coming back to nursing. I'm sure much of that has to do with my sisters both being nurses as well as my wife. My wife is a devout Christian, but she does not bring it into the workplace, but rather focuses first and foremost on her patients. She knows this. I know this. Sometimes reading between the lines can cause frustration and confusion. For anyone that I have offended by posting this question, I truly apologize.

Both my sisters and wife have been an inspiration to me in wanting to pursue a career into nursing. I believe that I am not going down this path for all the wrong reasons. Okay, maybe some, but the main motivating force behind my decision is the desire to care for people in their time of need.

Again, I am sorry I was not more clear with my original question.

I was not offended by your post, and I do not see anywhere that your posts or replies were offensive.

As I said, it's a secular site, so you have to consider you will receive variant responses on this kind of thing. Looking at the Christian nurse association/s might be more beneficial to you, and you wouldn't be side-tracked by responses from people that really don't understand or appreciate where you are coming from. They may make their own knee-jerk reactions, such as the so called "arrogant nature of many Christians," and junk like that. If these people were on an educational discussion board, of course their approach/response would be worded quite differently.

If you are looking for support from a Christian perspective, you are better off going to a site that is a Christian nursing or Christian healthcare site. People on discussion boards,--where their names are no associated with their real life names and titles--as contrasted with, say, an education discussion board, where the administrators, professors, and other know you name, affiliation, and information about you as a student--well, it leads to people overreacting and getting up in each others faces and going off topic or being offensive.

Nothing in your post justifies any of that, but it happens. That's why I say look for the other kinds of sites for support. Personally, I don't have any problem with your post, but I knew the negative replies would ensue, unfortunately.

To try to answer your question, going into nursing or medicine today, you will find the highest percentages of folks probably are more secular in nature, regardless of their religious affiliations or backgrounds. That's what I mean by a bumpy ride. General ethical principles are one thing, but certain areas, where there are finer points to consider, well, you will find something far a field from Judea-Christian ethics from many in healthcare today--especially as politics and financial concerns are such a huge part of healthcare today.

Best wishes.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Also, non-Chrisitans may not be looking out for Christians in the workforce.

Evidence to back this up? Research, not just your personal experiences.

Personally, I think that religion has no place at the workplace. You are there to, in this case, provide nursing care. Chaplains and the patient's personal religious leaders have the training to care for their spiritual needs.

As for non-Christians not looking out for Christians, here's my policy on looking out for my coworkers: I'll have your back if you have mine. Religion has no role in that; it's called teamwork and being a team player. Christianity isn't a requirement for that.

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She STUDIED Buddhism. I never said she TURNED Buddhist. Please don't misquote.

Oh ok, I misunderstood what you were trying to say. My fault. Sorry Mclennan.

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Specializes in Most areas of adult hospital care.

FSUns2b,

Not to worry, you will find that there are plenty of Christ followers in nursing. You will also probably find more outspoken Christians in nursing than banking. As you can see from the comments posted on your thread, nurses are pretty outspoken and spirited by nature.

The fact that you seem comfortable with your own spirituality is good. Humans are spiritual beings. Recognition of this about yourself will help you be more attentive to your patients needs. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint Commission have set expectations that these needs be addressed by health professionals (nurses). I know for sure that the WHO has even developed a spirituality assessment tool.

So, your question is very applicable to a "Nursing & Spirituality" forum for nurses. No, need to go to a Christian forum to ask these types of questions. I welcome them.

Suzie

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

I totally agree with SuzieF. No need to go to another forum for your answers. It is perfectly fine to discuss this here in the Nursing and Spirituality forum. That is why it is here. This is a professional nursing site where all types of things related to nursing and patient care are discussed........including spiritual issues.

In the United States, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires that a spiritual assessment be completed on every patient. Because nurses work closely with the sick and dying, they often find themselves called upon to address a patient’s spiritual needs.

Several threads and articles have been posted in this forum regarding spiritual issues, and this will continue to be the case.

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As for non-Christians not looking out for Christians, here's my policy on looking out for my coworkers: I'll have your back if you have mine. Religion has no role in that; it's called teamwork and being a team player. Christianity isn't a requirement for that.

yeah, these are my sentiments as well.

i'm still not understanding why some need to seek 'their own', esp if like faiths don't possess the needed qualities in being an effective nurse.

besides, this seems to be much more of a religious forum, much more so than spiritual.

i'm not Christian, so i guess i'm not needed here. ;)

going, going...

leslie

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I completely understand your concern. I never had the concern until I worked with a nurse who was very mean to me after she found out my beliefs. She was even the one who asked me and I never brought the subject up again, but she couldn't let it go... She really knew how to make a night miserable. That was just one nurse. The rest of the nurses on the unit found it interesting to discuss different beliefs and how they effect patients' healing during those long night shifts. THEN, I moved to Utah and found out that religion is a HUGE thing in this region and completely different. But, people still can be very rude about someone's different beliefs. I found that many nurses have SOME kind of belief system/religion, but it is still a work environment and it's just best to not bring those kinds of things up and definitely no reason to ever be rude.

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SuzieF & tnbutterfly,

Amen to that! Thank you:yes:

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but it is still a work environment and it's just best to not bring those kinds of things up and definitely no reason to ever be rude.

Totally understand. Just remember, "rude" people have been around for quite some time and aren't going away any time soon.

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