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 CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.
I'm a former agnostic, trust me I've done a lot of thinking. But thanks for your concern. :D

You're welcome, never stop thinking and always consider all credible evidence before you accept anything as fact. Later ;)

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Here.I.Stand just won the thread. Seriously, great job.

When did this become a competition?

According to the T&C's of this site - and I know because I fell foul of them earlier this year - we should be polite and considerate to others beliefs. Explaining to christians and/or other believers exactly why we think they are wrong can and will get you moderated.

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Specializes in hospice.

Yeesh, a person can't even offer praise around here without it becoming controversial.

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I'd like to remind the OP that she didn't ask for examples of prayers to use, she asked for opinions. We gave ours. I really wish people would indicate in the OP if they only want blind validation.

I will repeat again - as a pt, if my nurse was to come in and ask if I wanted to pray, we'd have a communication issue very promptly. I'd be embarrassed, uncomfortable, and afraid of retaliation if I asked the nurse to go away.

I've noticed that Christians often forget there ARE other religions out there in our schools, hospitals, and courts. I think it's because they've been the majority for so long.

For all the Christians in this thread who are upset that the idea of unprompted prayer sessions isn't going over well, imagine this. You're at the only hospital in 70 miles. You're ill. Your nurse comes in, washes your hands and feet, and starts talking quietly in a rhythmical foreign language. You ghink theyre praying but you arent sure. How would you feel? That's what life as a religious minority is like.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Yeesh, a person can't even offer praise around here without it becoming controversial.

And the corollary being that atheists can't offer logic and reason.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
I'd like to remind the OP that she didn't ask for examples of prayers to use, she asked for opinions. We gave ours. I really wish people would indicate in the OP if they only want blind validation. ......

For all the Christians in this thread who are upset that the idea of unprompted prayer sessions isn't going over well, imagine this....

This is what the OP asked:

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.

I'd have to read through all the replies again, but I don't remember any Christians on this thread advocating for unprompted prayer. Personally in my response, I said that praying w/ pts has been at THEIR request. I never said anything about unprompted prayer. What I remember being objected to was the notion that prayer at work is NEVER appropriate.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Here.I.Stand just won the thread. Seriously, great job.

Thank you for your kind words. :)

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Seems like a lot of Cherry picking and rationalization to me, but you win, I've failed to make you at least think about this :D

Here.I.Stand seemed to have put a lot of thought into what he/she said.

I don't see anything wrong with debating debating the validity of religion in a post where that is the subject. But please, stop popping into any thread where someone mentions their religious beliefs and posting these comments that are clearly meant to belittle and undermine.

I'm an atheist, and all these smug comments are even getting on my nerves.

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And I have to do what you want why? If you can't handle a different opinion then feel free to find and use the ignore button here.

Well...clearly you don't have to do what I want you to do. It was a request. I've found the ignore button isn't really all that effective, because people keep quoting the person I'm trying to ignore and I'm still seeing half the argument!

Additionally, I really don't have a problem with people having a different opinion than I do. As both a bleeding heart liberal and atheist living way down south, I have become quite accustomed to it, and have realized that if I want to have friends and get along with people, I have to play nice. And in fact, I happen to share many of your opinions, so that's really not the issue.

I just hate it for people when they come here to ask for advice concerning their religion, or to share an aspect of their faith, only to be ridiculed in the form of rhetorical questions, sarcastic remarks, and links to websites pointing out where the Bible was inaccurate. All it does is make people defensive, it doesn't change their minds.

If you enjoy arguing about that sort of thing, why don't to start your own thread about it? I have no doubt there would be many people willing to engage.

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And the corollary being that atheists can't offer logic and reason.

This comment intrigues me. Why would you (or any athiest, for that matter) wish to specifically seek out a forum entitled "Nursing and Spirituality", then find a thread that very clearly is asking those who HAVE faith/spirituality for their input.....and then post comments that are anything but what the people discussing the topic are interested in? As in, you feel you should "offer logic and reason", but by this you actually mean "mocking and disregarding other people's religious values and beliefs as a waste of time and demonstration of intellectual immaturity".

I just don't see what the possible purpose would be, since you aren't likely to turn up anyone who says "yep, you're TOTALLY right, I've been wasting my whole life as a Catholic/Protestant/Jew/Muslim/Hindu and you've shown me the error of my ways!! THANK you!!"

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Specializes in Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse.
A quick prayer with a patient is one thing. A prayer session with lots of family can take time.

How long is long enough for a quick prayer? 1 minute? 2 minutes? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? I want to make this clear; I support the right of the OP to pray and I understand that if the culture of the hospital is religious then that is going to happen. But I stand by my thinking that it may lead to nurses going 'missing' from other patients, especially if it is encouraged by her hospital.

Another thought, how many times a day is this poor nurse going to be asked to pray? She is going to get burned out and overloaded very quickly.

I agree with this. How long is someone's definition of 'quick'? I have some family members that make me want to prop my feet up and kick back with a novel in the length of time it takes them to pray and say thanks for our food, I can only imagine how long they would pray in a situation in a hospital.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse.

On the flip side of everything that everyone else has said about the patient being comfortable...if a patient were to approach ME and ask ME (as a nurse) if I would pray with them/for them, I would be a deer in headlights. Granted, I wouldn't be ugly about it, but I honestly wouldn't know what to say, and faking it would be wrong. Thoughts?

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