Topic: How do the worldviews demonstrated in your own nursing environment
compare with a Christian worldview? What tensions arise from the differing
worldviews of your employer, colleagues, and those patients or students in your
care?
I work as a hospice nurse, one of the reasons I love my job is I often get to share
and talk about my belief with my patients. Most of my patients are elderly and have close
ties to a church and are strong in their faith. I work for a rather large healthcare
organization that demands and expects diversity among their employees and want to
ensure that no patient or employee is discriminated against due to their religious
preference.
Within my hospice team we have nurses, social workers, and chaplains to name a
few. We offer each of our service to each of our patients. Often, I see patients and
families deny chaplain service however as the disease process progresses and the patient
starts to decline I often see them turn to their faith and ask for chaplain service. I can
speak for the relief I feel during this time and can only imagine the relief the patient and
family feels. It is often I wish they would have accepted that spiritual support earlier
however I have learned to accept the fact to be satisfied that is was accepted when it was.
I see first hand the relief and the comfort that washes over families when they lean on
their faith. It is a blessing to see churches rally behind their members that are facing
illness.
The worldview demonstrated within my department and through my supervisor is
very supportive of the Christian faith, however if we have someone that does not share
our same beliefs we are expected to treat that individual with the same care we would
treat anyone else and offer to assist them in exploring their faith and getting a leader of
that faith in to see the patient if that is the patients wish.
“The role of nurse grew out of the Christian understanding of the human person as
crated in the image of God and viewed the body as a living unity and the temple of the
Holy Spirit” (Shelly & Miller, 2006, p.16). In recent decades I believe nursing is pulling
away from the Christian worldview and I find many nurses entering the field for the
money or the prestige verses the value of helping those in need. I remember several
nurses I have worked with in past position that were the furthest from caring or loving
their job as you could possibly get and unfortunately it showed through the care they
gave. “While nurses have traditionally entered nursing to serve God and care for the sick,
those motivations seem to be rapidly changing” (Shelly & Miller, 2016, p. 23). As a nurse
this is an unfortunate and scary thought. I do not necessarily believe that you have to
have the same faith as I do to be a good nurse, however I do believe you have to have a
desire to help and to serve others.
When I worked with nurses that had a negative attitude towards faith and their
nursing duties there were a number of tensions that I experienced. I wanted to avoid them
and not help them like I offered to help others. It was a struggle for me because I know
that is not who I am. I enjoy helping others, including my co-workers, who would also
offer to help me when I needed it. However, it is hard to help someone that is unwilling to
help themselves or help others and who constantly looked for shortcuts and was watching
the clock for the end of their shift. It was a struggle for me to put aside my feelings and
act in a Christian manner.
I entered nursing because I wanted to make a difference in other peoples life and I
wanted my life to have a purpose. I have a strong desire to help those in need so I could
think of no other profession that would fit me better. “Be ye strong therefore, and let not
your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7). When I die I
want people to remember me for the blessing I was to others. I want to have a positive
and meaningful influence in the life of my family, my friends, my co-workers, and my
patients.
Shelly, J. A., & Miller, A. B. (2006). Called to care: A Christian worldview for nursing.
Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press.
The Holy Bible: New International Version. (2005). Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House.
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