Case Study Sixty-Three: Pray with Me/ MHA 6999 Week 4 Discussion

CASE 63

Pray with Me

Sharon B. Buchbinder

You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan. The patient and her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, were discussing her religious practices and how she prays, when another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the room, stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you,” and told Penny not to discuss the “satanic religion” with the patient any more. The patient demands an apology and threatens to go to the media. She feels she has been discriminated against because she is a Wiccan and that her patient care experience was poor during her hospitalization because of her spiritual beliefs. You convene a meeting with Penny and her immediate supervisor, Ruth Goose.

Ruth Goose is wearing a large gold cross on her neck. Penny wears no jewelry and is dressed in her blue scrubs. When you ask Penny what happened, Ruth answers for her. “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?” Penny can’t get a word in edgewise. Ruth keeps repeating “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you, it says so in Leviticus!”

What should you do?

Discussion Questions

1.    What are the facts of this case?

2.    What is the nature of the organizational behavior problem?

3.    What are three factors contributing to this dilemma?

4.    What are the top three management issues in this case?

5.    Who should be responsible for addressing these organizational issues?

6.    What kind of differences in spiritual and religious practices are you familiar with? What if the patient had asked Penny to pray with her? Should she have done so? Discuss the pros and cons of praying with patients. Provide your reflections and personal opinions as well as your recommendations for addressing the issue of praying with patients.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Baker, J., & Baker, R. M. (2011). Health care finance: Basic tools for nonfinancial managers (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Borkowski, N. (2011). Organizational behavior in health care (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA:Jones and Bartlett.

Buchbinder, S. B., & Shanks, N. H. (Eds.). (2012). Introduction to health care management (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Cadge, W. (2009, February 17). Bearing witness: The work of hospital chaplains. Retrieved from http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/science/1078/bearing_witness%3A_the_work_of_hospital_chaplains/

Campbell, K. (2012, February 24). Healing space: Huntsville Hospital’s Madison Hospital considers spiritual health care. http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/02/healing_space_huntsville_hospi.html

Morrison, E. E. (2011). Ethics in health administration: A practical approach for decision makers (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Office of Minority Health. (2001). National standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health care: Final report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

O’Reilly, K. B. (2012, June 18). When patient visit includes request for prayer. American Medical News, 55(12), 1, 2, 4.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2004). Crucial confrontations. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2011). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Spirituality and religion in healthcare. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.bravewell.org/integrative_medicine/philosophical_foundation/spirituality_and_healthcare/