Nursing Personal Philosophy

History and

Philosophy of

Faith

Community

Nursing

Gail Williams, RN, MSN, FCN All

images and information from:

Faith Community Nursing

Curriculum (2014 revision)

www.churchhealthcenter.org

Pre-Christian Era

 Stone Age

 Focus on physical needs and protection of self/others from

danger

 No evidence formalized medicine or nursing

 Age of Metal

 Permanent shelters

 Domesticated animals

 Dualism

 Evil deity responsible for illness

 Benevolent deity responsible for health

 Treated by Shaman/medicine man or woman; priest-physician

Early Civilizations

 Egypt

 Medicine mystical and priestly

 Advanced knowledge developing on anatomy and surgical

procedures

 Worship of nature – animalism

 First physician – Imhotep

 God of health

 Fived somewhere between 2900-2800 BC

 Wrote first medical textbooks

Cont.

 Greece

 Nursing responsibility of family or slaves

 Hippocrates, father of medicine (460-370BC)

 Worship Aesculapius (god of healing) and daughters

 Hygeia-goddess of health

 Panacea-restorer of health

Cont.

 Rome

 Medicine consisted of natural and folk remedies

 Multiple Roman gods were offered libations for health and

illness favors

 Adopted many medical treatments

Cont.

 Israel

 Mosaic law foundations of public health nursing

 Rules of nursing for contagious diseases

 Hospitality and charity for anyone in need

 “houses for strangers”

 First nurse – Deborah

 Defined as nurse in Old Testament

 Genesis 24:59; 35:8

Cont.

 Babylonia

 Code of Hammurabi (2067-2025 BC) first legal and civil

measure for medicine

 Enrichment of drug therapy

 Concepts of hygiene, social medicine, codifying responsibilities

of physician

 Punishment for malpractice

 Nurses were slaves or domestic workers

Cont.

 India

 Vedas, sacred books of Hinduism (1200BC) guided health care

practices

 King Asoka started hospitals with male nurses – 300BC

 Islam into India in 7TH and 8TH centuries

 Diminished nursing and medicine

 r/t unsanitary to touch blood or morbid matter beliefs

Christian Era

 Diakonia

 Greek word for service

 Serving, caregiving, and healing arm of the church

 Caring for whole person

 Ministry

 Preaching

 Teaching

 Healing or serving

 Diakonia Christ’s service of walking among people healing

diseases and forgiving sins

Cont.

 Early church cared for ill and visited sick

 Leaders preach and teach Acts 6:1-6

 New Testament office of deacon/deaconess held by men

and women Romans 16:1

 Theological framework comes from following Jesus’

example of serving those in need

 Approach service to others with belief that

 With mercy and compassion others will know Jesus Christ

through our example

Deaconess Education and

Ministries

Germany (early 1800’s)

 Theodore Fleidner of Kaiserswerth

 Pastor

 Developed modern form of diaconate

 Established houses for those

 Ill

 Developmentally disabled

 Transitioning from prison

 Any other need

 Gathered women to provide care

Cont.

 Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

 Trained at Kaiserswerth

 Crimean War

 Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)

 Started prison ministry

 Immigrant churches

 Imported work of deaconesses and Roman Catholic orders

(1839-1889)

 Religious based hospitals emerged

Development of Nursing

Standards and Education (1900-

21st century)  Hospital diploma programs

 Safety standards developed

 First BSN program established in 1904

 Licensure mandatory in all states in 1947

 Associate degree programs in community colleges in 1952

 Doctoral programs

 Research focused PhD

 Practice focused DNP

 Specialty certification

 At BSN and advanced practice levels

 Health Ministry Association

 Working with ANA to seek certification of FCN as a specialty

Key Term: Faith Community

Nurse

 An RN who is actively licensed in a given state and who

promotes health as wholeness of the faith community, its

groups, families, and individual members

 See Wholeness PPT for list of influential people

Key Term: Wholistic Care

 Based on an understanding that a healthcare consumer is

an interconnected unity of physical, mental, social,

environmental, and spiritual factors

Key Term: Faith Community

Nursing

 The specialized practice of professional nursing that

focuses on the intentional care of the spirit as well as the

promotion of wholistic health

Key Term: FCN Scope and

Standards of Practice

 2nd edition, 2012

 Describes the unique scope of knowledge and

professionalism for the specialty practice

Granger Westberg

 Conceptualized parish nursing (later faith community

nursing) in the 1970’s with the idea of wholistic care

Wholistic Care Centers

 Westberg’s 1st Wholistic Health Center opened in Hinsdale,

Illinois in 1973

 12 more followed in diverse settings

 Westberg observed…

 interactions of patients with

 Physician

 Nurse

 Chaplain

 Realized value of a nurse in the congregation

Development of the Parish

Nurse Role

 Piloted in Tucson, Arizona in 1983 by Granger Westberg

 Model adopted by Lutheran General Hospital in 1985 (now

Advocate Health Care) in Park Ridge Illinois

 Leadership of Rev. Larry Holst

 Director Pastoral Care Lutheran General Hospital

 Sponsored program with paid nurses in six churches in many

denominations

Key Term:

Health Ministries Association

 Encourages, supports, and empowers leaders in the

integration of faith and health

History of the International

Parish Nurse Resource Center

 IPNRC

 1985-Parish Nurse Resource Center

 1989-Health Ministries Association

 2002- International Parish Nurse Resource Center

 2011-IPRNC becomes ministry of Church Health center,

Memphis Tennessee

Work of the IPNRC

 Foundations of Faith Community Nursing curriculum

 World forum

 Westberg Symposium

Thoughts to Ponder…

 How can you use the resources of the IPNRC, HMA, Church

Health Center in your ministry?

 What is the impact of the Scope and Standards of the FCN

on your nursing practice?

Philosophy of Faith Community

Nursing Practice

 Spiritual

 Professionalism

 Wholistic

 community

FCN Preparation and

Education

 Additional education above generalized education on

spiritual care

 Completion of the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing

course (this one!)

 Ongoing continuing education encouraged

 FCN’s must be basic level of BSN and actively licensed in

the state in which they practice

Cont.

 FCN practice4 regulated by:

 ANA’s Scope and Standards of Practice for RN’s and FCN’s

 Nurse Practice Act of your state where licensed and practicing

 Nursing code of ethics

 Policies established by the faith community served

FCN Actions and Tasks

 Advocacy, education, referrals for clients

 Monitoring of the health and spiritual issues of clients

 Providing emotional and spiritual support to clients and

families

 Actions derived from diagnoses and assessments according

to the Scope and Standards for RN and FCN

Cont.

 Nursing care for which nurse is licensed or has been

declared competent to provide

 If the nursing care is not a current skill of the nurse, referral

to appropriate caregiving service or agency

 Any care provided as a Good Samaritan in an emergency

situation

Activity

 Create a mind map

 “Faith Community Nursing” i8n the center

 What might the ministry entail

 www.smartdraw.com-free mind mapping templates

 Brainstorm