the rosary helps

Awesome!!! I'm Catholic and often viewed praying the Rosary as another form of meditation...which does have many proven benefits! Thanks for sharing, you're an inspiration.

yes the Rosary helps alot.. i do it often..my mother was a nun before she married dad and she often prays the Rosary daily.. I also pray alot to St. Michael and St Francis, and when i loose things St Anthony.... among the many others.... it does help.. God Bless You..

I work in a Catholic tertiary hospital, and I am into taking care of elderly patients.

Many of them are too anxious over many bedside procedures like anticipated shot of fleet enema, change of NGT, or even just when their MD's are about to make rounds. They tremble, they cry in some sort of panic, and they worry a lot, too afraid of many many things including thoughts of death and separation from love ones. I guess, their fears make them really fragile and more challenging to care for. I understand how much they need compassion and extra gestures of sincerity and love.

As a nurse with responsibilities for 30 other patients in my shoulders, I just can do so much. I wish I can stay longer by their side to comfort them or to just hold their hands to listen and say nothing.

Recently, I discovered an intervention that is really helpful in calming my bothered, nervous patients: I give them rosaries. Praying the rosary even made them sleep better, gave them something to draw strength and courage from, and I observed my patients would tend to forget names of their doctors but not mine.

I feel rewarded by just the thought that they appreciate me as a nurse. How I always want to go to work! How I always love being a nurse!

-Tatara

P.S: i hope my observations can be supported by research. :chuckle

guess it only depends on the religion.. not all nurses are catholic.. and they have their own way of touching their patient's lives... if you're a catholic, praying the rosary helps, as claimed... but for the non catholic, like the Born Again christians, direct prayer to God is their main weapon against hard times...

thank you....

i am also a catholic nurse and i pray the rosary frequently...it has always helped me when i needed it and helped me to calm down when i start to panic.

people on my floor often get a chuckle out of me blessing myself before i get off the elevator to report for work.... but i can't do my work alone.

i do not work in a catholic hospital, so praying with patients, unless they request it, is against the rules. i do alot of praying FOR them tho, and for myself to take good care of them. :)

I'm not catholic, but when I worked in the hospital I definitely found that giving a rosary to my catholic patients was comforting. I have even prayed along with a couple of them before bed. Again, I am a non catholic Christian, but I figure a couple "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" wouldn't hurt me.

I mastered to make rosaries for my patients as a hobby because I was reared by my grandmother who was a devoted Catholic and together, we made rosaries for charity up until she got blind and die due to old age. I practically grew up with all the images of saints and the holy Mother around me. But like many other nurses on this site, I too am not catholic, I'm a protestant, an active Methodist.

Do you also instruct them on the various mysteries of the Rosary for meditation?

I am a catholic...As a family member of a critically ill patient (my daughter), I can not explain the strength, hope, and support I found in the rosary countless times...Now, thank the lord, my daughter has fully recovered without any residual illness or deficits..I know that not everyone in this world is catholic but I can truly attest for the catholic individuals out there that there is so much comfort and support that can be found in the rosary...I knew at many times that my daughter's health was grave (minute to minute for months,truly) but I was able to find solace in the rosary to face everything I needed to face from day to day (or minute to minute)!..What a gift you have provided to your catholic patients!...As a nurse, now, I have often stood by my patient's and prayed with them upon there request, even if their prayer are not the same as mine..I find just a caring presence by there side with a touch of the hand can truly make a difference..I pray on my way to work every day that lord helps and guides me to provide my patient's with everything they may need from me.

Do you also instruct them on the various mysteries of the Rosary for meditation?

**No, i mean not necessarily. The rosary comes with a guide, a small booklet, just in case.

I coordinate with the pastoral services of the hospital if ever my patient or relatives request for other spiritual aid.:loveya:

-tatara

I'm Catholic, and the Rosary helps me; I've also held the hand of a dying woman while she whispered a "Hail Mary." It was one of the last things she ever did, and I watched her BP and HR stabilize after she said it. I'm not saying a Protestant wouldn't get the same thing from saying a Lord's Prayer, or a Wiccan wouldn't also experience the same level of physical calming from praying to the goddess. I think belief --- or non belief, if that's your belief -- is also part of healing, and a part of nursing.

If you're my patient, and you want me to pray with you, I'm there.

But I draw the line at sacrificing an animal... You drag a goat into the room, I'm outta there....*grin*

That's awesome how above and beyond the call of duty you go.

Wonderful post! My future goal when I become an RN I hope to work at one of the Mercy Hospitals or other Catholic hospitals in the country. Yes, I am also a Catholic and was raised so. The power of the Rosary and the Virgin Mary is awesome! I can also tell you first hand being a patient several times in the hospital that having one of the nuns visit you is very comforting.