Nursing: Reliving of Christian Values

Nursing is to help or transform individuals to be in a healthy status utilizing Christian

values in the doing of safe care practices, leading and managing care procedures and solving
unsolved health problem through research.
Many patients are in suffering due to stresses of various origins. Many clients suffer
emotional pain, fear, mockery, condemnation. They became hopeless and they believe that
there is no more tomorrow. They tried to start a new life but a new life is not easy for cancer
patients, for AIDS patients, for lupus and other terminal cases. (Kirchoff, 2002).

Real

nursing is showing them genuine care; making them believe that Jesus is there inside the
room accompanying a caring nurse who is there ready to be an advocate, ready to accept and
understand and assist them. This will give the patient peace, less stress, more hope and
possible health restoration. God has a way of transforming clients through the nurses.
Nursing is associated with the care and concern given by Jesus to humanity. Jesus
gave his life and blood to free us from sin and suffering. Nursing is a sacrifice-doing an
enormous task to help and sustain the life of those in agony because of sickness. Nurses who
see intrinsic value are shown to be vulnerable to self-sacrifice in their inclination to work for
the good of their patients, at the expense of themselves (Pask, EJ, 2005). Nursing is bringing
back life. It is life giving, life restoring, with the aid of the divine providence. Every sweat
that nurses gave to every patient that they served and saved is associated with life giving.
Mad mob did mockery to Jesus but He was silent. He took their contempt with
calmness and serenity. In the life of a nurse, there are injustices and unfairness but the nurses
continue to work and extend help. Majority of the nurses are seldom given opportunity to
have a good salary, yet they do wholeheartedly the doctors orders. Sometimes in caring for
one critical patient, five-doctor specialists are assigned; helping one another brainstorming
and each would give orders to just one nurse. The nurse naturally does all the orders coming
from these specialists. The doing of these various procedures coming from specialists must
call for a very special nurse who should know the art of management and leadership and is an
expert of doing everything to carry the orders of five or more specialists. However, the case
mentioned is just for one patient. More and more patients nowadays are assigned to one nurse
only.
Without Jesus it is impossible to survive and sustain energy to help the patients hurdle
the difficulties of ailment with varying healing procedures. The nurses do the caring and
treatment procedures for the poor, for the dying, for the old, and for the very young ones.

Nurses too are carrying a cross; they do multitudes of tasks. The art of managing helps them
in prioritizing things, delegating things, and doing time management. They smile, show
patience and offer sacrifice (tiyaga) even in the midst of voluminous orders and works.
Nurses are like the son of God, they serve to save lives. Why? It is because of the love for
duty and service. The cross of uplifting pain, doing so many procedures that call for expertise
and to prevent errors are all borne by nurses. Nurses are carrying the cross of daily duty yet
they seemed to be contented and happy at times. One nurse said, The greatest gift in my
profession is seeing dying patients survived, got healed, picked up their belongings and been
discharged alive and kicking. (Nurse A, 3/28/2014)
There are several reasons why a nurse gives her services. The goal of every nurse is
to make people live. The Christ-centered Colleges of Nursing give skill, knowledge and
attitude to nurses to enable them to support life. Sometimes nurses felt crushed by the cross
they carry; the doctors bullying them, the lack of safety protocols, the complaints of the
uneducated significant others accompanying the patients and the moral tortures from having
errors at times. In addition, the way of expressing guidance and mentoring by members of the
health team is horrible and demeaning; lowering self esteem and degrading nurses. Though
times have changed, nurses continue to be an oppressed group as they have experienced
repeated, widespread and systematic injustice under a patriarchal system by physicians,
administrators, and marginalized nurse managers. (Dong, et.al, 2011) However nurses
endured and have weathered these things.
A nurse with Christian values is regarding her day to day duty as a journey with the
Lord. It is an everyday struggle not to commit errors while caring for patients. There are
times in their lives that they are novice. It is a long way for a nurse to become an expert in her
field from being novice. At times, nurses also falter, they fail. Only the understanding of God
and the belief and valuing of Him becomes the support for nurses. The nurse who has a
personal relationship with God is motivated, primarily through a sense of gratitude to God
and His loving act of salvation. To respond, with compassion and care, to the needs of all
people (Shelly 1994,).
A professional has nurse studied the art, science of nursing. They learned the skills of
doing caring service. Nurses become a part of every patients life. They feel the sufferings of
patients in pain. Some would skip their meals and are hungry many times just to attend to
critical and dying clients. It becomes very essential for them to extend help; trying their very
best to serve and save lives. Nurses are moulded with courage to carry such a burden yet they
are happy because the task of saving lives is very noble.

Nurses have active role in Gods mission. With increasing evidence that religious
commitment appears to have some health benefits (Matthews 1997), nurses need to ensure
that they give particular focus to spiritual care of clients. The role of nurses in caring for the
sick is very vital. Nurses can make or unmake the healing of patients because of the
excellence and worth of care they can offer. They troubleshoot and propose the best care
with the so called evidenced based nursing practices which all originate and are anchored in
research. They are

imbued with problem solving skills to truly assist, give relief, comfort

and to truly give concern to men, women and children. Research is a means to make excellent
care. Wellness is the intention for all evidenced based practices steered by nurses.
Biyaya ang nurses. There are challenges of quitting because of low salary and
volunteerism for year before appointment for a job with a salary of 250 pesos only per day. It
is like crucifying the nurses. However, because of the training for service and LOVE for the
profession, nurses never quit. Nursing is an expression of love to patients. The reason why
the Christian nurse will want to serve, in love, for fellow humans are summed up in I John
4:19 (NIV): "We love because He first loved us". Carson (1989,) suggests that identifying
nursing as a service may not be an attractive idea to all nurses, after-all, "the idea of serving
and servanthood are not popular notions in today's world, which values self-fulfilment above
all else". Christian's nurses are motivated to look beyond the self and care for others with
selfless, unconditional love.
At the middle of a shift, a nurse could say that she had a difficult day, she is fatigued
and drained. Nurses who know God calls for HIM during tough and demanding times. Most
nurses wanted their dying patients to die confidently; pronouncing that their dying patient be
in the hands of the Almighty and into the hands of the Lord commending the spirits of
patients. It is therefore the Christian values that guide these nurses in the caring and
counselling of dying patients.
Nurses care also the families of the dying ones. One nurse said to a family member
whose daughter died because of kidney failure, Your daughter is for burial tomorrow.
Death is giving hope. Yes it is sad that she will not be with you anymore but dying is also to
be regarded as hope, joy, and awakening. She will be with the angel and new friends.
(Patient A, 4/15/2014). Many nurses gave advices to continue life after the death of loved
ones, to have a balance life is Gods desire for all. Death is moving to another time with God.
One meaning of nursing is helping clients and relatives in their rise towards wellness from
death, depression and anguish and sickness. (Kehl, 2006)

Another nurse told one patient whose wife died of cancer, Death is the start of
resurrection, it is a reminder to continue to die and have a new life with God. Yes at the
beginning there is shattering of hope, but it is also a rise from death of sin as they said
towards a life of happiness with God. (Patient B, 4/16/2014.) Nurses give hope and share
guiding light started by Nightingale even to the families and relatives of dead loved ones.
Thompson (1994), who suggests that hope gives opportunity not to give up when an
individual is facing an apparently despairing situation, identifies that there are several reasons
it makes a difference to nursing. These include the fact that illness and all that accompanies
it can be destructive to hope; lack of hope thwarts healing, and it is a powerful motivator of
life (Thompson 1994,).
Paano pinasan ng nurses ang cross of burden? Every nurse believes in healing.
They are the source of energy for the family and the patients. That is why they have to
convince the patient and family circle that there is new life, a new hope. Nursing is belief, a
pananampalataya to HEALTH.

Nurses give true service, they are carrying the cross of

burden but they are very alive. They survive because they have the skills, knowledge, and
attitude plus the Christian values. One of my administrators in my work setting before said,
Naisabuhay ang totoong buhay ni Christ sa buhay ng isang nurse. The ethical principles in
nursing said: Nobody lives alone. Everybody has responsibilities to patients, to clients, to
other nurses, to colleagues and to the community. Bawat nurse ay may pananagutan sa
isat isa. (Nurse Administrator, 4/20, 2014)
Nursing is a practice of Christian values in doing the care procedures, in managing
care procedures and solving of problems through research. The secret weapons of God are the
nurses. A study by Hall and Lanig (1993,) identified an important benefit to clients which
appears to occur when nurses integrate Christian values and beliefs into their care. A positive
correlation was found between the "degree of integration of Christian values and beliefs" and
the degree of comfort in handling spiritual concerns".
Nurses are instruments of God. Let me cite the journey of a nurse and their patients
towards hope and new life. The power of communication in Gods way is with nurses.
In a case of Joanna, a child with brain tumor, Nurse Emma witnessed the suffering of
Joanna until she was operated with a doctors declaration of fifty- fifty chance of surviving.
Nurse Emma uttered prayers for her patient. Child Joanna came out of the operating room
alive. In Gods grace the patient was able to survive the operation. The parents of the child in
shaking voice asked the nurse, How my daughter did survive that brain operation? Nurse
Emma said, Somebody is up there, what I and the doctors cant do, He can.

As patient Joanna was about to go home, they discovered that her ordeal is not yet
over; there were side effects. CT scan again was undertaken and the tumor has grown larger.
The child was opened up again. Chemotherapy was done. The mother felt so hopeless. At
times she expressed her fears and anxieties to Nurse Emma. Nurse Emma embedded with
Christian values said, Children are not our own. God can take them anytime. Do not be
scared if she dies. Talk to God, prayers say what is in your heart. (Nurse Emma, 2/2013). It
was amazing after three months of thorough cares, prayers child Joanna walked again and got
healed.
This is another case to prove that nurses are Gods messenger and are bearers of the
words of the Lord. This is a case of a mother who almost lost hope, was hospitalized because
of extreme sadness and felt that life is not worth living because of her losing a son in that
2004 Superferry tragedy. Her son was no longer found by the rescuers when it exploded
burning half of the boat with total of 54 missing passengers. There was an unending search;
there has been no closure because the body could not be found. She was told by her sister, a
nurse that, I hope you will live again. Your son has to say goodbye. I am sure your son
missed you. Life is neither mine nor yours. There are many things to learn and so many
things to do. Life is not ours. Where he is now he found new friends, where spirits live, no
one there can die. I know he is proud of you. He is enjoying life until you or I can come.
Please wake up and enjoy life. Your son and all of us can only find peace and real happiness
with God.(Nurse B, 3/ 24/2006).
God must have his way of transforming and I believe that the nurses are instruments
to this plan of God. Nursing is telling us to restore faith and get strength from Him. Nurses
imbued with Christian values are the secret weapons of God the Almighty.

Nursing is a

journey of faith. It is offering care. Let every patient feel the kind of love and concern, that
care and compassion. Most terminal and dying people have fear of death. The most things a
nurse can give aside from physical care are to help them accept the Lord in their heart. This
gives an assurance for them where to go.

References
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Hall, Carolyn; Lanig, Hilreth, (1993). Spiritual caring behaviors as reported by Christian
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Kehl, K. A. ( 2006) Moving Towards Peace: An Analysis of the concept of death. American
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