Faith Diversity and Nursing

Research in the nursing profession has shown positive relationship between spirituality and the outcomes expected in the treatment processes and procedures. Therefore, spiritual needs are a very important aspect to look at when administering treatment to a patient. Spiritual health and physical health are of equal importance. Physicians are thus expected to make inquiries concerning the spiritual needs of the patient. The main objective of this essay is to establish faith diversity and its contribution to the health care profession in addressing the spiritual needs of a patient. Reference is hereby made to Native American religions, Buddhism and Sikhism and has been used to highlight the importance of spirituality in the healing process. Each religion has a specific philosophy of healing characterized with critical components like prayer and the spoken word among other things. The failure of the doctor to adhere to the patient’s spiritual needs betrays the trust of the patient. Christian philosophy of healing compares to all these religions coupled with a personal perspective.

Health care providers often come across people from different kinds of faith. Spirituality has been proved to be a very important aspect in the healing process of a patient (Hickman, 2006). Therefore, understanding the spiritual background and history of the patient can be a very important aspect in administering healing procedures to the patient. The acceptance of faith diversity is, therefore, crucial to health care providers. This essay takes a comparison the health care philosophy of three diverse faiths with that of the Christian perspective and again, from a personal perspective.

In reference to the Native American religions, every life aspect has a lot of significance in religious matters. The Native American religion has the belief that reality in essence is founded on the spiritual world. Apparently, the most dependable and basic reality level is the spiritual stage, matters of deities, spirits and mythic heroes (Fowler, 2009). With the Native Americans, health like any other thing of interest in the community is put in a broader, usually more celestial context. The compatibility that offers expression to the importance of health is noted. Any form of illness becomes curable and bearable when viewed as part of the celestial process. A life becomes important when the joys and sufferings, defeats and triumphs, elevations and degradations in it can be taken as part of human story. The process of providing healthcare amongst the Native Americans cannot be separated from the religion.

The critique and analysis through which nurses take part is based on their knowledge about health science could not be compatible with the critical components of reflection and synthesis that is important to the healing, health and the cosmology of Native American patients. Another component of the healing process is the ‘spoken word’. The words used in the healing process are sacred and are believed to have a significant input. When compared to Christianity, there seems to be a similarity in the sense that words are considered as perfomative utterances owed to a divine power beside the words according to the religion (Fowler, 2009). The same case is applied to Native Americans.

With Buddhism, the spiritual perspective on healing revolves around practices that are geared towards promoting the longevity of life. The beliefs in liberation from fears and spiritual peace are very critical components in the healing process. These can be achieved through adherence given to and through the attainment of the awakening to the wisdom of Buddha. This kind of approach is thought to promote recovery and healing. Buddhism supports quite a number of health science operations. It does not restrict medications, nutritional therapies and vaccines together with other therapeutic interventions. Moreover, it encourages such procedures like biopsies, amputations and organ transplant. These procedures prolong life which is a very important aspect in Buddhism (ElGindy, 2005).      

The healing of a Buddhist patient is generally supported by the religious predisposition. All available means of ensuring recovery to the patient are highly supported through Buddhism. The Buddhist’s health is achieved through a balance of opposing energies know as yin and yang. These forces include good/evil, light/darkness and health/sickness among others. Flu, for instance, may be attributed to an imbalance between the yin and yang energy. Therefore, the nurse at all times must be aware that a Buddhist patient’s objective is to balance yin and yang energy which is the critical component of the healing process based on Buddhism. This aspect comes prior to any patho-physiological explanation (ElGindy, 2005).

For Sikhism religion, there is a belief in one God. People can relate to God by the way of meditation and that the soul of human beings is innately good. However, the human soul is restrained through human faults and weaknesses (Singh, 2009). One important aspect about Sikhism is the fact that it values knowledge and science as well. Moreover, there are no restrictions made on medications and thus all medical procedures are applicable to the religion. However, women are not expected to discuss any matters of health with a male doctor. While there may be agony over the ill patient, Sikhs do not regard death occasioned by illness as a loss by a prospect that the person connected to God’s being. All the same, the nurse is expected to make informed decisions based on the spiritual needs of the Sikh patient. The critical components of the a Sikh’s healing process include the preservation of the faith of the patient, suffering alleviation, life sanctity, truthfulness, honesty and showing respect for the autonomy of the patient (Singh, 2009).  

The most important thing to people of a particular faith when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own is to have a feeling that the spiritual needs are addressed. The process of healing is not only in the physical but also in the emotional aspect. Spirituality comes in handy in the healing process. Patients normally get encouraged when health care providers let go off their own beliefs in the interest of the patient’s beliefs and practices. This builds a lot of confidence in the healing process and promotes quick recovery. The Christian philosophy of faith and healing is founded on the belief in the power of Jesus through prayers and the spoken word. While this still holds, Christianity supports the science of medicine and any other interventions aimed at bringing wellness to the body (Hickman, 2006). Thus, Christianity healing philosophy inclines to spiritual needs just like these other religions.

In conclusion, this research has provided substantial information about healing philosophy that is vital in the healing process. Addressing spiritual needs of the patient has been found profitable and a huge promoter of health care. Health care practice vitally needs the services of the patient’s religion in enhancing healing and recovery. Thus, healing is both a physical and emotional process.