Sharing faith at work

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I am blessed to have a new job at a religious based hospital that encourages spirituality and sharing faith and prayer with patients (within in reason, no be pushy or disrepectful). On the one hand I am excited to be able to pray for a patient or feel like I can discuss their religious beliefs, on the other hand it feels so awkward and foreign at a job since it's normally taboo.

Has anyone ever been in this position? Other than pray does anyone have advise? I have such a hard time imaging openly praying with and for a patient.

Specializes in hospice.

I just think if an employer tells you up front they're religious, you have no right to beef about the religious environment. That's kind of like me, a pro-lifer, taking a job at Planned Parenthood and then being offended they expect me to participate in abortions. Anyway, hopefully now you're working somewhere you're more comfortable.

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Um, no. Not an apt comparison. A clinic that provides abortions is pretty clear about their services and expectations. This SNF was not. The whole pre-shift prayer came out of nowhere. Providing care in accordance to the teachings of Christ, that's a great motto - compassion, acceptance, respect for the ill, I can get behind that. Has crap - all to do with the holding hands and praying, or anything else they sprung on me. They state on their website they welcome residents and employees of all faiths and beliefs. There was no caveat that you had to be Christian while working, but it sure seemed that way. Also, I am unsure why a professional who refused to provide abortion services would apply to a clinic specifically for those services. All I was applying for was a position to care for ill people. Don't need to be Uber - christian to toilet and feed residents but hey, what do I know.

Tl;dr: the SNF was Lutheran based (as in the board of trustees were regional churches), claimed they were open to all faiths, but did not share that working for them was like being a church while being at work. Not an apt comparison.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I used to work for a Presbyterian-affiliated SNF with two chaplains who regularly made rounds. They (chaplains) offered--didn't push--staff a prayer and anointing w/ oil during general orientation, and then they had this little silver praying hands pin that staff could wear on their badge, if the staff member was willing to pray w/ pts at their request.

I now work for a large county hospital, and I actually pray with pts more here. Generally it's either at their request, or if the chaplain offers to say a prayer w/ the family I'll join (providing it's one that my conscience allows; if it's not, I go about my business.) Once I had a pt who was having some huge anxiety, and noticing the Bible on his tray table I offered to read some. Hey, it was HIS Bible, and a holistic intervention I happen to love. :) But that led HIM to ask me if I was a Christian, and ask me to pray for him. Or I've had patients who I casually knew through a large area church that I used to attend.

As for the time factor, it really doesn't take so much time that it's a detriment to their critical care. I have found time to chat at the desk with colleagues, I have found time to pick up clutter from the room, I have found time to show their family members where the public restroom is (outside our unit). I work in an ICU so my other pt will always be monitored, and I keep an ear open for alarms--just like I do when I'm bathing or managing drips.

My prayers for the pt are usually focused on asking God for strength/endurance/peace for the pt and family. I don't even tend to ask God for a full recovery, and NEVER for a miracle; I think that has too much potential to hurt people when it doesn't happen. The extreme form of this unfortunately happens all over "Christian" TV, where people "claim" a healing as if it has already happened...I hate this theology more than I hate C. diff...and I have seen it devastate sick people. Not to mention, it's not in the Christian Bible. I've seen one case in my life where someone inexplicably recovered, and I have seen hundreds, thousands of natural recoveries/long-term effects/deaths.

So anyway, those are some of my thoughts on the matter. :)

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Specializes in hospice.

My prayers for the pt are usually focused on asking God for strength/endurance/peace for the pt and family. I don't even tend to ask God for a full recovery, and NEVER for a miracle; I think that has too much potential to hurt people when it doesn't happen. The extreme form of this unfortunately happens all over "Christian" TV, where people "claim" a healing as if it has already happened...I hate this theology more than I hate C. diff...and I have seen it devastate sick people. Not to mention, it's not in the Christian Bible. I've seen one case in my life where someone inexplicably recovered, and I have seen hundreds, thousands of natural recoveries/long-term effects/deaths.

This is awesome. :up: I wholeheartedly agree that if we take the responsibility of praying with patients we need to be extremely careful what we say. And your point about the theology is spot on too.

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Specializes in ICU.

We have a Catholic hospital in my town which I may end up working at someday. I somewhat grew up in the Catholic church although I was confirmed in a Lutheran church. I say the Lutheran religion is as close as you can get to being a Catholic without actually being one. My beliefs are very personal to me now, and I don't discuss it with anyone. I'm not comfortable with it.

But I will say this, in a time of need, if someone grabbed my hand and said pray with me, I would. I would do what is needed to make them comfortable in their time of need. It is their time, not mine. If a family asked me to pray with them as their loved one was dying, I would. It gives people comfort, which is my job after all.

When my grandma died back in the 90's, we had the minister from our home church at times and a Catholic priest that worked for the hospital there to comfort us. He was so comforting to me. I had never experienced a loss with someone I was close with before and he encouraged me to sit with my grandma and tell her how I felt. He gave me my own time with her to express my love to her one last time. Even though I wasn't Catholic, he was a huge comfort to me.

The nurses were wonderful. I don't remember any of them praying with us, just giving us what we needed in her final days and making her comfortable. She was on a lot of morphine and they had to suction her a lot. But I remember the time as peaceful and beautiful.

My point is, it doesn't matter what religion you are. When you need comfort, I think any denomination will do. And if someone is actively dying and the family needs some kind of comfort I will be there for whatever they need. But at no point and time will I ever initiate it. My beliefs are my own.

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.

A Christian hospital... That concept is so strange to me. I thought the bible says in Mark 11:24

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Why can't they pray for patients to heal? Why build a whole hospital and spend all that money?

It must be that the religion operating the hospital doesn't really "believe" like Mark wrote?

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Specializes in hospice.

St. Luke, the evangelist who wrote the third Gospel, was a physician.

This false divide between faith and science is just that: FALSE. It gets set up by extremists on both sides of the faith debates when they need a straw man.

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.
St. Luke, the evangelist who wrote the third Gospel, was a physician.

This false divide between faith and science is just that: FALSE. It gets set up by extremists on both sides of the faith debates when they need a straw man.

??????? Physician??????? LMAO

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??????? Physician??????? LMAO

What do you find so amusing? St. Luke was a physician, as much as anyone was, by the standards of his time. Are you equally amused by Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, Maimonides, Paracelsus, and the other forerunners of modern medicine?

And thanks for posting the link to the article about how the Church butted heads with science in the 15h and 16th centuries. Gee, that's amazing information which I'm sure no one here has ever seen before.

Yes, we get it; you're a proud atheist and you think you're much smarter than anyone who believes in any kind of deity. Congratulations.

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Specializes in hospice.

Salon.com being such an objective and unbiased source.....:rolleyes:

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To the OP, if your patients want it and your employer allows it and you have time to do it - go for it. You will do no great harm. On the other hand you will not actually do any good. If your patients/families feel that prayer is helping them, then fine, what ever helps them through their illness/time of stress.

^This^

I have prayed w/ a pt. once or twice when they have specifically asked me to and there was no one else to punt the request to (i.e.,clergy member) However, as a convert from Catholicism as an adult, praying out loud w/ others does not come easily to me so I try to avoid it. If I am in the room when a prayer starts (family, friends, clergy) I will stop what I am doing and bow my head until the prayer is over. If a pt. is openly spiritual, I might tell them I will pray for them if they are voicing a lot of worry or anxiety. I do try to say a little prayer/send up positive thoughts for all my pts. on my drive home.

I would never offer prayer to someone who lets me know they are atheist/agnostic. I think it is pushy and disrespectful. I'm sure some would disagree but I don't think it is appropriate in the hospital setting.

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