Patient's Faith versus Care Rendered To Him

The nursing profession strives to provide patients with care that not only heals them but also makes their stay in the hospital comfortable. This implies that a nurse has to ensure that during the period, he/she is taking care of a patient, the views and beliefs of the patients especially on faith matters are respected and not violated.

Patients hail from different religious backgrounds. This is usually different from the religious beliefs of the nurse. This creates a situation that requires the nurses to be flexible when dispensing his/her duties to avoid violating religious rights of the patients. Certain religions have very strict principles that their members adhere to in their day-to-day life. Most of these principles are contrary to the conventional principles of mainstream religions. This involves consumption of certain foods, prayers at certain times during the day, abstinence from certain foodstuffs and drugs at certain times of the month. Failure to observe the principles results to the faithful sinning and this it is not accepted in any of the religions. The hospital is no exception and a patient must uphold all these principles. The nurse must be aware of the special needs of the patient emanating from the patients religious beliefs (Haley, 2000). This will require the nurse to come up with a special program that will aim at providing the patient with proper medical care without contravening the religious beliefs.

 

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There are myriad instances that may require a nurse to come up with a special program. Such instances arise if a patient is a Muslim and he/she is fasting for an entire month. The nurse must ensure that the patient is eating at the right time, which may force the hospital to provide the patient with special diet at night, and early in the morning before the fasting session starts. Other instances may occur if a patient is a catholic and he/she is abstaining from meat during the Easter holiday.