Healing Hospital: A Daring Paradigm Essay

Components of Healing Hospitals Faith and hope are the greatest assets for the patient. Listening is the greatest asset of the caregivers. Addressing spiritual issues can make a difference in the patients’ experience of illness, and may even affect the outcome. Ministering to the patients’ spiritual needs and providing appropriate interventions has been identified as a professional nursing role. († Philosophical Foundation for Integrative Medicine,† 2012) Healing hospitals need to contribute to the physical needs and spiritual needs as well. Holistic nursing is becoming more prominent of caring for patients’, paying attention to the mind, body, and spirit. These are components of a healing hospital. According to Diana Vance (Vance, 2004), Patients’ religious faith and prayers were significantly correlated and reduced post-op pain and complications and mortality rates. Additionally prayer, spiritual perspective, and religious influence were positively correlated with enhanced coping skills for dealing with the stress of surgery and illness and an overall feeling of well-being during terminal illness. Regardless of whether spiritually is described as prayer, religious faith, or spiritual perspective, numerous studies have demonstrated the positive affects spiritually plays on physical and psychosocial health. (Vance, 2004) Prayer and medicine have been shown to decrease blood pressure as a result decreases the effects of heart disease. Studies also show meditation lowers blood sugar as well. Healing hospitals need to provide patients’ with staff educated in spiritualty and more holistic medicine. Massage therapy increases the oxygen and blood flow to the areas being massaged, the only exception is areas over bony prominences where pressure ulcers may develop. Biofeedback can be used to promote relaxation, heart rate. Guided imagery focuses and directs imagination. This can decrease blood pressure, respiratory rate, and can decrease pain. Healing touch consist of balancing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Healing touch works with the body’s energy field to support its natural ability to heal. Healing Music therapy is being used to decrease stress, and can help patient manage  post-op pain. Healing gardens provide a place for patients can pray, meditate, and can use other therapies to aid in healing. Some hospital and nursing homes also participate in pet therapy. Florence Nightin gale promoted small pets as a companion for the sick. Pastoral care with representatives from the different faiths so that patients’ receive the pastoral care needed. Healing environments are not just for the patients. In order to effectively and therapeutically for other we must first know how to care for ourselves. Healing environments are an essentially prerequisites patients as well as staff members. Creating a Healing Environment Healing environments have had difficulties taking hold. Hospitals are known for cure and not healing. Until the past couple of years medical students were not instructed how spiritually can make a difference. One of the difficulties studies have found is that hospitals are noisy with overhead paging, bright lights and this increases patient stress, anxiety causing blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate elevated, while also increases muscle tension. This situation decreases the bodies’ ability to heal. Overall nurses believe that some spiritual connection does increase the bodies’ ability to heal, gives patients inner-peace and contributes to overall well-being. Nurses need to develop a strong therapeutic relationship with the patient this increases the patients ability to discuss these sensitive issues. Acute care nurses are less equipped to deal with spiritual needs of this patient population. Hospice nurses, oncology, and rehabilitation nurses apply spiritual comfort , and have more education to deal with these issues. In some studies nurses’ claim reasons that keep them from discussing spiritual matters is lack of time, lack of confidence, and knowledge regarding the particular religion the patients’ practice. Despite attempt to present nurses’ spiritual care in a more positive light. Studies show that nurses’ treatment is incomplete only participating in more traditional therapies like prayer. (Grant, 2004) With cutbacks in hospital funding, and short stays spiritual care is considered a low priority. Nurses need to be educated in more modern therapies. Interventions should be developed and evaluated that utilize the best mix of hospital staff physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers. Questionaries’ need to be  developed that ask if their spiritual needs were met while hospitalized in the acute care setting. Hospitals need to make spiritual care a higher priority in the acute care settings. (Vance, 2004) According to one article I read our spirituality is the foundation of our being rather than an aspect our being. Attention to spirituality and spiritual values is an important yet most-often neglected components in organizations. (Thornton, 2005) Hospitals need to create educational programs for patients’ and visitors to incorporate the idea of mind, body, and soul to foster the idea that all of these concepts are tied together as one. Keeping mind, body, and spirit health has shown to actually lower over health care cost. The healing environment is not just important to the patients and visitors. The staff needs this environment as well; hospitals need to make changes for staff. Keeping the staff energized and able to provide the best care possible. In the book of Matthew 4:23-25 NIV Describes the story of Jesus making his way through the synagogues spreading the gospel, healing the sick, healing every disease and illness. News spread all over Syria people came to him with all kinds of various diseases, those suffering in pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures and the paralyzed. Christ healed them all. This best describes how healing hospitals should be. This scripture describes Christ healing physical issues it also describes Christ healing the spirit as well, by healing the demon possessed. Hospitals are in the business of healing, curing, and promoting over well-being. References Geimer-Flanders, J. (2014). Creating a healing environment: Rationale and research overview. Retrieved from http://www.ccjm.org/content/76/Suppl_2/S66.full Grant, D. (2004, Jan-Feb). Spiritual Interventions: How, When, and Why Nurses Use Them. Holistic Nursing Practice, 1(), 36-41. Retrieved from ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu Spirituality and Religion in Health Care. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.bravewell.org/integrative_medicine/philosophical_foundation/spirituality_and_healthcare/ The Power of Beliefs and the Importance of Culture. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.bravewell.org/integrative_medicine/philosophical_foundation/beliefs_and_culture/ Thornton, L. (2005). The Model of Whole-Person Caring Creating