The worldview demonstrated in my nursing environment and the Christian worldview are
drastically different. I have worked in multiple hospitals, some of them are Christian hospitals, but the
hospital I work in now is not affiliated with any type of religion. The Catholic Hospitals that I have
worked in, had some sort of Christian worldview. They would not allow any benefits provided by the
hospital to cover birth control, abortions, and certain surgeries, and there was a cross on the hospital
building. These qualities do not make up a Christian worldview, but they are attributes of a Christian
worldview. The hospital I currently work at, is very science driven and a teaching hospital, and it almost
feels as if there is no room for God in my hospital. Doctors and nurses scoff at the idea of God or heaven,
and we use chimes to reflect and deep breathe instead of saying a prayer. The hospital hands out lavender
inhalers to help induce calmness and reduce anxiety. My hospital does have a chapel and offered Easter
and Christmas services prior to the Corona Virus Pandemic.
The Christian worldview according to Shelly & Miller involves the presence of God in every aspect of
the nursing metaparadigm: person, environment, health and nursing (McEwen &Wills, 2019). The Christian
worldview also adds the concept of God as its own concept. It acknowledges that God is the creator and the
world should worship him (Shelly & Miller, 2006). According to Shelly and Miller the bible states
environment was created by God and was perfect until sin was introduced, nursing is a form of
Christianity because it is about caring for others, health is the combination of love and peace, and person
is the creation of God in his image whom is loved by God, and forgiven by God (2006, p.65).
I have worked with many different types of doctors but two come to mind when comparing
worldview versus Christian worldview. Upon reading chapter 3 in Called to Care, I thought of both when
I saw the diagram that compared Modern, Christian, and Postmodern worldviews (Shelly & Miller, 2006).
Dr. I. is very anti-Christianism, and he becomes very snippy at the thought of religion or even the word
“heaven”. An example of this is when he was talking to me about his son experiencing a bird’s death. He
could not find the words to tell his son the bird had died, and instead convinced him that the bird was
sleeping. When I laughed and said, “oh in my house we just tell my daughter, they go to heaven”, he then
replied, “we don’t believe in heaven”, and just like that the conversation was over. The other doctor I
work with Dr J., is very emotional very spiritual, no specific religion but he feels very deeply and prays
when anyone dies or anything bad happens. (We work in the Emergency Department so bad things
happen quite frequently). Recently, we had a pediatric death, it was very traumatic and self-inflicted. I am
a firm believer in debriefings after any traumatic event occurs. Studies have been conducted showing it
offers emotional support and encourages learning opportunities for the team (Nocera & Merritt, 2017). Dr
J. was the doctor managing the care of the team, and during the debrief, he conducted a prayer. He is well
known for this, and a lot of the staff bow their heads and listen, no one says amen, except me. The tone of the
environment is very awkward after the prayer, and no one quite knows what to do.
No one really talks about Christianity in Massachusetts, unless it is on social media. Christianity and
religion are visualized as non-accepting and non-loving, so it is not accepted to be a Christian. This is also the
perception displayed in the hospital I work in. If I am a Christian that must mean that I do not love people
because of their sexual orientation, or if I am a Christian I must not believe in science. I find it very difficult to
talk about Christianity in my hospital and my state. When the vaccines were being offered, colleagues were
making snide remarks talking about how Christians are idiots because they do not believe in getting the
vaccine. That is the Christian worldview versus the worldview in the environment around me. It reminds me of
a scripture in Matthew that talks about the world being “offended” and hating one another in the end times
(King James Version, 1611/2017, Matthew 24 10-12). It is starting to feel like God will return very soon.
References
King James Bible. (2017). Thomas Nelson Publishing. (Original work published 1611)
McEwen, M., Wills, E.M. (2019). Theoretical basis for nursing (5th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Nocera, M., & Merritt, C. (2017, May 4). Pediatric critical event debriefing in emergency
medicine training: An opportunity for educational improvement. AEM education and
training. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6001495/#:~:text=Debriefing
%20following%20a%20critical%20event,throughout%20an%20emergency%20physician's
%20career.
