How do nurses Care?

     The first article I chose to review related to the caring practices of nurses was, nursing focused on tasks or people? By Pamela McCarver Rn. McCaver writes the article, after she changes roles from registered nurse to caregiver after a brush with an almost fatal illness. During her prolonged treatment and recovery she came to realize that caring was all too often a forgotten component by the nursing staff. “Health care professionals are at many times, limited regarding the deeper issues within the patients souls” (McCarver, 2011, p.86). After she began to heal she began to evaluate deeper meaning in life. She came to understand through her experience as a patient, the reason healthcare professionals were limited in their ability to care for the spiritual aspects of their patients was because, they had failed to build and maintain their own spiritual foundation. This concerned McCarver greatly because she believes nurses sacred duty is to provide healing to a patient on a physical, mental and spiritual level (McCarver, 2011).

     The article explains to build a strong spiritual foundation requires the nurse to “to develop patterns of spiritual discipline for the primary purpose of listening to God and giving back what is Gods” (McCarver, 2011, p. 86). McCarver gives examples of ways nurses can build a stronger spiritual foundation through,” solitude, prayer, private study, communal study, corporate worship, sacrificial service, and sacrificial giving” (McCarver, 2011, p.86).  She then goes on to talk about the parable of Martha and her sister Mary and describes that nurses must be a combination of both sisters to truly serve God with their chosen profession of nursing. McCarver asserts this parable challenges the authors view regarding the spiritual care she provides her patients (McCarver, 2011).

     McCarver brings to light the fact that, Mary is often regarded as the spiritual one. When in fact the work of Martha is just as significantly spiritual in nature, she is providing necessary service to the Lord. McCarver illustrates the fact if Mary failed to provide the necessary physical aspects of caring for a home and meal preparation; the house would have been in chaos and spiritual learning would have been impossible. McCarver interprets that Jesus is aware that physical needs exist while pursuing spiritual needs. The attitude of Mary is what concerned Jesus; because Mary was not doing the work to serve the Lord, she failed to experience his presence. Mccarver believes for Christian nurses it is nothing short of malpractice if they fail to provide spiritual care for their patients, which begins by continually feeding oneself spiritually(McCarver, 2011).

     The second journal article I choose was “Vigilance the essence of nursing” in this article the authors assert many professions require caring but, nursing many times defines the profession by caring. The authors contend that the caring in nursing is different than other professions in the fact that the nurse is caring by scientifically and intellectually identifying significant observations, signals and cues to responds to any threats encountered by the patient in the nurse’s care. The nurse also identifies risks and takes preventive measures that are inherent to the patient condition to prevent threat to the patient’s wellbeing. The authors define this highly specialized form of caring that is inherent to the nursing profession as vigilance. The definition of vigilance is “a state of watchful attention, of maximal physiological and psychological readiness to act and of having the ability to detect and react to danger” (Meyer, 2005, p.2). “It is the sustained attention, the perpetual scanning, that must always be present as nurse’s practice” (Meyer, 2005, p.2). The nurse must be forever vigilant and weigh every action for potential risk that is prudently chosen to heal the patient (Meyer, 2005).

     The authors contend this specialize form of caring is life saving for patients, it decreases hospital cost, prevents medical errors, patient morality, and patients outcomes. Vigilance in psychology is called the search for signals in the background noise of life. The nurse then attaches meaning to signals, such as abnormal lung sounds and provides necessary action to improve the health of the patient; this is the essence of caring in nursing(McCarver, 2011).The most significant aspect of vigilance is the continual presence of the nurse at the bedside.  This presence is vital for the nurse to attach meaning to data and take appropriate action to heal a patient. Another important component of vigilance is the nurse’s ability to identify possible complications and prevent them before they occur. “It is born of a knowledge base that allows the nurse to know what things might be required in what situations and to make sure that intervention can be accomplished quickly when necessary” (Meyer, 2005, p.5). Vigilance is a way to describe the phenomenon of care that is specialized to nurses and their profession. I believe a quote by one of my fellow nurses Roger Brooks, sums up the caring nurses provide very nicely, “Duty makes us do things well, but care makes us do them beautifully”.

     My favorite passage about caring for others in the Bible is “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me the righteous will answer him, saying Lord when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and cloth you? And when did we see you sick, or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you do it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me (Mathew 25:35 – 40).

     I decided on this verse about caretaking because, I am very much like Martha in the Bible. I have a sister like Mary and I very much envy her long, Bible studies and quiet time with the Lord. The truth of the matter is I have to be moving and doing to really learn. This may be why God gave me the calling to be a nurse. Some of the greatest lessons I have learned, about God are while I have been practicing my profession. I loved the interpretation of the above author, that it was Martha attitude that concerned Jesus because, she did not really think of her everyday tasks as serving him. This scripture reminds caretakers that something as simple as giving someone a drink of water or putting on a person’s socks could be a form of worship if done for the Lord. The nurse’s duty is to show the patient the love of Christ not interfere with or try to change their spiritual beliefs; this should be solely the doing of the Lord. I have read this verse many times before but until this assignment; I had never really interpreted the actual tasks I perform in my job as serving the Lord. I had always saw Mary as the spiritual one in this parable but, I am aware now Martha was just as spiritual. This week I have decided to approach my duties as a nurse as service to the Lord.  By approaching my work in this manner the much dreaded staffing schedule seems very much a different task. Because whatever is done for the Lord, has eternal significance and will last forever.

McCarver,P. (2011). Nursing focused on tasks or people?. Journal of
  
     Christian nursing, 15(6), 85-87. Retrieved from http://rx9vh3hy
  
     4r.search

Meyer,G.,Lavin,M. (2005). Vigilance: the essence of nursing. Nursing
  
     world, 7(4), 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/o
  
     jin/topic/Tpc22-6.htm