One Day we are on our patient audit for 3-11 shift in the next day in one of the hospital in the Philippines. I was called by our Clinical Instructor (CI) and I was assigned in a patient with full thickness burns. The patient was in the 50's . During our conversation and Nurse Patient Interaction getting the necessary health data and information of the accident there is something I feel inside me, It is very strange, something unusual, my heart beats fast, and then suddenly I saw the scourged Jesus in Him , the one that is likely shown in the passion of Christ. I saw in his eyes the suffering that he was encountering as what our Lord experienced during the time he was hanging on the tree of cross. I heard in his voice the agony and pain, like Jesus whispering in me "Come my Dear, come and comfort me" . I feel the totality of putting myself before the tree of the cross when our Loving lord was in HIS last moment of His life.
As the time gone by, I am enjoying the moment with my Lord, but I cannot bear the felling within , I want to cry ! I want to hug him! I want to say "Lord I love you please forgive me of my hardheadedness!" . But I must do the right thing, maybe if I did such thing he may encountered more injury because of the open tissue ; or maybe get insulted. I did not show to my patient the tears within my eyes. I didn't want to allow my patient to see the uncovered pain of my sliced heart.
I politely excused myself and run to the chapel of the Hospital, where my tears burst and my heart weeps. Once again I felt that I am placed on the time where the Loving lord was being whip by the sharp metals of the Roman soldiers. I felt the pain of being scourged, persecuted and left.
During the night I can't sleep . All my mind was occupied by the tender love of God to us. Giving His most precious son Jesus Christ. Meditating on the Paschal mystery of Jesus. The pain and the joy combined. Pain because of my sins, my shortcomings and my naughtiness. Joy for this treasured moments and experienced that HE (Jesus) unveiled to me.
I had served the patient with all my Best. Serving a King. I saw in him the Lord . My Master my Love my all! And that experienced was cherished inside me. The calling within the call as mother Theresa said was experienced by me.. Thank you Lord... Thank you Jesus!!!
i just don't get all the concern for this patient.
hmm, i thought i addressed my concerns here, but i was clearly unable to express what i meant, so i'll try again.
several members have defended the op's response by removing the religious aspect and normalising it. tnbutterfly, for example, addresses the concerns raised by some members as though emotional responses to patient distress are perceived as unprofessional. similarly, gilarrt responds to posts querying the op's psychological integrity by comparing the op's experience with a deja-vu-like resonance of one traumatic event with another. in this spirit, i would also like to try re-framing the original post in a secular way.
one evening i was asked by my clinical co-ordinator to assist with a full burns patient. he was in his forties. while we were talking with him i felt something very strange and unusual - my heart beat faster, and sudenly i saw in him my dead husband, who had died of cancer five years earlier. i saw in his eyes the suffering of my husband in the days before he died; heard in his voice the whisper of my husband, asking me for comfort. i feel the totality of that last day, beside the bed, as my husband lay dying.
time passed, and i was enjoying the feeling of being with arthur's spirit but i cannot bear it - i want to cry, i want to hug the patient, i want to ask my husband to forgive me for the times i was impatient or angry. but i should not hug this patient - doing so could cause pain, given his open burns, or he could be upset. i don't show him my tears or the emotions in my heart.
instead, excusing myself, i run to the garden and as i weep so too does my heart. i feel as though i have been transported back to my husband's side, as he lay riddled with pain. i feel as though i am experiencing that pain myself - the bone metastises, the terminal respiratory failure.
i can't sleep that night. my mind was filled with the love of my husband, with the mingled pain of his loss, of my inadequacies as his wife, with the joy of this vivid reminder of him.
i served my patient well. i saw in him my husband, my love, my everything. and i cherish that experience. thank you, arthur, thank you.
to my eyes this is quite different from (in txbutterfly's example) the times i have been moved to tears by my patient or their family's distress - most recently this was when a routine surgery was followed by my colleague finding my patient, some 40 minutes post rtw, in pea. cpr, unsurprisingly, was unsucccessful, and in the three hours ot took for her elderly husband and extended family to arrive from their country town we were able to move her to a single room an de-medicalise it. i was fine until the covering rmo and i spoke with the family, in the presence of my patient, about what had happened. i was not distressed by the code, by doing cpr, by performing post-mortem care, but their grief brought tears to my eyes and a catch to my throat as i said sorry for not being able to bring her back. why is it different? because it wasn't about me, it was about my patient and her family.
the op doesn't want to hug the patient for the patient's sake but for his own, as an expression of his emotion, his faith, and his belief that christ is manifest in the patient. the patient is a vehicle, not an ends in himself. he was served well not because, as a patient in the care of a preofessional, he had a right to care and the op had a duty, but because "serving a king, i saw in him the lord."
and that is why, though i have revised my earlier response, i still have concerns.
We all have different emotional reactions based on our personal beliefs and past experiences. I took care of a battered little girl and her distraught father while in Afghanistan and through it I "saw" or relived another traumatic incident involving a small child in vivid detail from years earlier. The situation reasonated in a specific way psychologically. Through looking at the eyes of one patient, I saw another. Does this mean that I was experiencing some sort of psychosis, or because I didn't make some sort of supernatural connection, I'm in the clear?
That sounds exactly like a triggered PTSD flashback. I'm not sure that is the same thing as the OP experienced.
Accused me of what ever you want brothers and sisters one thing I can say.. I am thankful that Jesus gives me this grace to become more faithful to my work as a nurse and to my vocation. .. All of us has different experience with our patient... and this experience allow us to grow. What a wonderful world if all nurses treat his/ her patient as the president, a king or above all his GOD despite of the tiredness he / she was encountering. Thank you for those who said concerned and to those who is with me standing and committed in the Christian faith. And may God continue to bless us in order to work for HIS beloved poor, HIS neglected love ones, and HIS sick children. May HIS hands be upon your hands to take the patients needs gently and heal him with HIS grace.
Remember we are just HIS Instrument and all healing comes from HIM.
My prayer to the Community and May God's Blessing be upon you all!!
Accused me of what ever you want brothers and sisters one thing I can say.. I am thankful that Jesus gives me this grace to become more faithful to my work as a nurse and to my vocation. .. All of us has different experience with our patient... and this experience allow us to grow. What a wonderful world if all nurses treat his/ her patient as the president, a king or above all his GOD despite of the tiredness he / she was encountering. Thank you for those who said concerned and to those who is with me standing and committed in the Christian faith. And may God continue to bless us in order to work for HIS beloved poor, HIS neglected love ones, and HIS sick children. May HIS hands be upon your hands to take the patients needs gently and heal him with HIS grace.
Remember we are just HIS Instrument and all healing comes from HIM.
My prayer to the Community and May God's Blessing be upon you all!!
dear bro. david, i'm glad that you still firmly stand up to what you believe in. do not get disheartened and discouraged with the harsh comments posted in this thread. i believe that your heart is in the right place and you are of sound mind. you make an excellent nurse and i know that your patients are in good hands. :)
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Bro David,
You have been blessed with a wonderful gift and one that I'm sure will stay with you during your entire nursing career. I would like to thank RN/Writer for his/her strong defense of you and, while I haven't read all of the posts, I have to say that I am sad at how many treated you with such vitriol and hatred, which I'm sure stems from some serious anti-Christian attitudes. God Bless.
This entire "article" ( using the term VERY loosley here) Gave me a RAGING case of the ickies. Not appropriate at ALL! I'm surprised AN included this as an "article...." Seriously...The author seems like he might be on the edge of some psychotic episode, cloaked in religious fervor. Again....NOT APPROPRIATE!
I agree. If someone came into the ER speaking like this, it would sound as though there were some delusions in there.... not based in reality. I get that some people are really religious. I can respect that, but this level (and this is an ARTICLE???? NO WAY.) of religious grandiosity in nursing is unnecessary, uncalled for, and inappropriate. We are a judgement free and neutral zone.
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
If someone came into the ER speaking like this, it would sound as though there were some delusions in there.... not based in reality. I get that some people are really religious. I can respect that, but this level (and this is an ARTICLE???? NO WAY.) of religious grandiosity in nursing is unnecessary, uncalled for, and inappropriate. We are a judgement free and neutral zone.
I am confused as this post appears to be very judgemental.
so this person is a seminary student.... that explains the direction of this article.... I think the seminary people have a role in healthcare if those spiritual needs are under duress, but not to be blurred w/ medical and health care, which is what appeared was happening. Of course we all have our own experiences and sometimes relate to people and their experiences, but PROFESSIONALISM is what stands out to me here. This poster is not displaying professionalism within the role as a nurse, nevermind the seminary student. Perhaps the poster had a divine moment? I still think that this is awkward and wonder what the poor patient must have been thinking. Surely they would have had some divine moment also? I don't believe that a seminary student should be a nurse, and if so, you should practice where your patients know and EXPECT that religious slant on your nursing practice.
Someone posted later in the thread that it looks like the OP is a Catholic religious brother (a monk) who is in training to become a nurse.
He may not have come back because, a) a religious brother in nursing school would not have a lot of free time, and/or, b) he felt a little stung at the intense negativity of the reactions from the first day.
I hope he does come back again.
I would expect a monk in training would NOT be on Allnurses, or the internet.... hmmmm
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
I don't believe that a seminary student should be a nurse, and if so, you should practice where your patients know and EXPECT that religious slant on your nursing practice.
And should the patient also be made aware of the slant of non-Christian, atheist, etc., nurses?
For the past two days I've been hinking to write a response to this post. As an ex-catholic ( very devouted one) who reverted to Islam, in either religion this does not seem normal. In catholicism it would be taken as fanatism. A true catholic would never think like that. In Islam it is an insult to Jesus (Peace and Blessing be Upon Him).
Muslims believe, that Jesus was one of the mightiest messengers of God that he was the Christ, that he was born miraculously without any male intervention (which many modern-day Christians do not believe today), that he gave life to the dead by God's permission and that he healed those born blind and the lepers by God's permission. In fact, no Muslim is a Muslim if he or she does not believe in Jesus!
What will also surprise the christians is the fact that the Muslim does not take the holy name of Jesus, in his own language, without saying Eesa, alaihi assalam ("Jesus, peace be upon him")
been a long time since I went to a Lutheran school, but....
do you forget your ex-Catholic days? Mary, mother of Jesus, gave birth - she was a virgin. How is that having ANY male involvement?? Your facts are wrong. You can't rewrite what is written. She was a virgin mother.
talaxandra
3,037 Posts
several members have defended the op's response by removing the religious aspect and normalising it. tnbutterfly, for example, addresses the concerns raised by some members as though emotional responses to patient distress are perceived as unprofessional. similarly, gilarrt responds to posts querying the op's psychological integrity by comparing the op's experience with a deja-vu-like resonance of one traumatic event with another. in this spirit, i would also like to try re-framing the original post in a secular way.
to my eyes this is quite different from (in txbutterfly's example) the times i have been moved to tears by my patient or their family's distress - most recently this was when a routine surgery was followed by my colleague finding my patient, some 40 minutes post rtw, in pea. cpr, unsurprisingly, was unsucccessful, and in the three hours ot took for her elderly husband and extended family to arrive from their country town we were able to move her to a single room an de-medicalise it. i was fine until the covering rmo and i spoke with the family, in the presence of my patient, about what had happened. i was not distressed by the code, by doing cpr, by performing post-mortem care, but their grief brought tears to my eyes and a catch to my throat as i said sorry for not being able to bring her back. why is it different? because it wasn't about me, it was about my patient and her family.
the op doesn't want to hug the patient for the patient's sake but for his own, as an expression of his emotion, his faith, and his belief that christ is manifest in the patient. the patient is a vehicle, not an ends in himself. he was served well not because, as a patient in the care of a preofessional, he had a right to care and the op had a duty, but because "serving a king, i saw in him the lord."
and that is why, though i have revised my earlier response, i still have concerns.