I am so angry and frustrated.  It is enough to make Florence Nightingale turn over in her grave.

An article yesterday revealed that a nurse, Caroline Petrie, is under investigation for offering to pray for a patient.  Her license could be suspended or worse.  Ms. Petrie quietly dressed the elderly patient’s legs and then simply asked if Mrs. Phippen would like her to pray for her.  The offer was declined and nothing more was said.  Mrs. Phippen did not even take offense to the question, but mentioned it to another nurse at a later date.  Nurse Petrie now faces disciplinary action under “equality and diversity regulations” and could possilby lose her job.

Thankfully today, I learned that Dr. Trevor Stammers, a GP and chairman of the Christian Medical Fellowship, has verbally supported Ms. Petrie.  He explained that she could be one of literally thousands of staff that could be affected by this.  He states, “It has reached a stage now where atheism has become so aggressive that it is quite intolerant of the expression of religious faith in a professional setting.  It is perhaps a paradox of earlier centuries when the world would have been intolerant of atheism.”

I just posted on an incident in nursing school where prayer was the only thing I had to offer my patient.  As nurses we are taught to work toward helping our patients achieve optimal health.  This is not just the absence of disease, but the presence of wellness in mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social areas.

In reaserching for this post I found that Ms. Ann Long has written a paper entitled, Nursing: a spiritual perspective which examines the fundamental need for nurses to include the promotion of the spiritual dimension of health in holistic care.  We are taught from the beginning of nursing school to address the spiritual as well as the physical, mental and social facets of one’s health.  Just check out the nursing diagnoses in NANDA!

Ms. Long suggests that spirituality in health is inextricable in our search for the discovery of self and the meaning and purpose of life.  She further contends that this responsibility is uniquely essential to being a nurse.

A popular orthopeadic spine surgeon here in town always asks his patients if he can pray with them just prior to any surgical procedure.  I have heard from so many of his patients about how they appreciated this.  Not all consider themselves religious individuals, but those that I have dealt with on a personal and professional level have remarked how pleased they were that he would offer a prayer.  None have indicated that they have denied his request.  The patients talk about a sense of peace and a calm before surgery.  They often had a new opinion of the surgeon based only on this one simple gesture.

I have not ever asked Dr. Surgeon if he ever gets turned down.  I suppose he might.  I can guarantee you that this doesn’t stop him from saying his prayers privately.  It won’t stop me either.  Sometimes prayer is the best we have to offer.

Tagged as: holistic, nursing, optimal health, prayer, spiritual