HLT 307V Week 4 DQ 1
How does faith influence or inform your work as a health care provider? Discuss the
impact of faith on your scope of practice within your allied health discipline.
Faith has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has played an
increasingly important role as I have grown older, become married and expand further into my
professional career in nursing. Christian values have been foundational to the practice of
healthcare for centuries. Some of the original healthcare provider and healthcare “systems” were
found in monasteries. In current practice, many healthcare systems across the United States were
founded by catholic orders and still adhere to their Christian founding beliefs in the application
of the care they provide (Healthcare Design, 2010).
On a personal level, faith can inform my work on a daily basis in ways large and small. The care
I aim to provide is based on my Christian beliefs. Specifically, that Jesus loved all of us with
disregard to race, gender or other beliefs. Caring occurs when human suffering and hope
intersect. Compassion, empathy, and the call to love God and serve others are emphasized
throughout Judeo-Christian Scriptures. These are the same foundations I have when caring for
my patients. I also believe in the importance of education for the nursing profession. The oft-
quoted Florence Nightingale also highly valued the role of education and raised the standard of
education for the profession. “However, she also emphasized nursing as a calling—a vocation,
stating, ‘but more than this, she must be a religious and devoted woman; she must have a respect
for her own calling, because God's precious gift of life is often literally placed in her hands’
(Nightingale, 1860, pp. 71)” (Rieg et al., 2018, para. 6).
I must also remind myself to care through the lens of my Christian beliefs even when caring for
those with differing views. My faith gives me the foundation to care for those that have been hurt
by others- or in some cases that have hurt others. “Contemporary nursing, however, is
increasingly characterized by a diminished understanding of personhood. The impact on patient
care has proven confusing and discouraging to many nurses” (Nursing Christian Fellowship, n.d.,
para. 2).
In my scope of practice as an operating room nurse, I often meet patients and their families in
times of great stress or crisis. My Christian faith gives me strength during pivotal discussions
with those impacted by immense trauma or illness. I have offered to pray with families and listen
to their concerns. I have prayed for patients that had no family present during the worst moments
of their lives. I have doubted the positive outcomes on some of these patients but my faith in God
gives me the ability to affect positive endings.
The operation room can be a stressful demanding nursing discipline to work in. I use my
Christian faith to care for the whole person. To bring consolation in suffering much like God’s
continued grace toward a sinful world.
References
How does faith influence or inform your work as a health care provider? Discuss the
impact of faith on your scope of practice within your allied health discipline.
Faith has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has played an
increasingly important role as I have grown older, become married and expand further into my
professional career in nursing. Christian values have been foundational to the practice of
healthcare for centuries. Some of the original healthcare provider and healthcare “systems” were
found in monasteries. In current practice, many healthcare systems across the United States were
founded by catholic orders and still adhere to their Christian founding beliefs in the application
of the care they provide (Healthcare Design, 2010).
On a personal level, faith can inform my work on a daily basis in ways large and small. The care
I aim to provide is based on my Christian beliefs. Specifically, that Jesus loved all of us with
disregard to race, gender or other beliefs. Caring occurs when human suffering and hope
intersect. Compassion, empathy, and the call to love God and serve others are emphasized
throughout Judeo-Christian Scriptures. These are the same foundations I have when caring for
my patients. I also believe in the importance of education for the nursing profession. The oft-
quoted Florence Nightingale also highly valued the role of education and raised the standard of
education for the profession. “However, she also emphasized nursing as a calling—a vocation,
stating, ‘but more than this, she must be a religious and devoted woman; she must have a respect
for her own calling, because God's precious gift of life is often literally placed in her hands’
(Nightingale, 1860, pp. 71)” (Rieg et al., 2018, para. 6).
I must also remind myself to care through the lens of my Christian beliefs even when caring for
those with differing views. My faith gives me the foundation to care for those that have been hurt
by others- or in some cases that have hurt others. “Contemporary nursing, however, is
increasingly characterized by a diminished understanding of personhood. The impact on patient
care has proven confusing and discouraging to many nurses” (Nursing Christian Fellowship, n.d.,
para. 2).
In my scope of practice as an operating room nurse, I often meet patients and their families in
times of great stress or crisis. My Christian faith gives me strength during pivotal discussions
with those impacted by immense trauma or illness. I have offered to pray with families and listen
to their concerns. I have prayed for patients that had no family present during the worst moments
of their lives. I have doubted the positive outcomes on some of these patients but my faith in God
gives me the ability to affect positive endings.
The operation room can be a stressful demanding nursing discipline to work in. I use my
Christian faith to care for the whole person. To bring consolation in suffering much like God’s
continued grace toward a sinful world.
References
