Posted on 02/03/2009 11:21:49 AM PST by TaraP
A Christian nurse from Weston-super-Mare has been suspended for offering to pray for a patient's recovery.
Community nurse Caroline Petrie, 45, says she asked an elderly woman patient during a home visit if she wanted her to say a prayer for her.
The patient complained to the health trust about Mrs Petrie who follows the Baptist faith.
She was suspended, without pay, on 17 December and will find out the outcome of her disciplinary meeting next week.
Power of prayer
Mrs Petrie, who carries out home visits in North Somerset, said she had asked the patient if she would like a prayer said for her after she had put dressings on the woman's legs.
The patient, believed to be in her 70s, refused and Mrs Petrie insists that she left the matter alone.
The sick woman contacted the trust about the incident and Mrs Petrie was challenged by her superiors.
Mrs Petrie said: "The woman mentioned it to the sister who did her dressing the following day. She said that she wasn't offended but was concerned that someone else might be.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I’ve been an RN for 25 years; a visiting nurse for 15 of those years. There is nothing in my nurse practice act nor in my employee regulations that prohibits me from praying with or for a patient. In fact, a big part of nursing education (at least back in the LAST century, lol) was about paying attention to not only a patient’s physical health, but their spiritual and emotional health as well. (Do an internet search on nursing and spiritual health, and you’ll find addressing this aspect of a patient’s health is an integral part of both nursing theory and practice.)
While openly praying with a patient rarely happened when I worked in the hospital setting, it has occurred many, many times in my work as a visiting nurse. You get to know patients (especially long-term ones) in a much deeper way when you go to their homes (sometimes daily) and meet their families, friends, pets, etc. Many of these people are extremely isolated, with no connection to a church or pastor/priest. Sometimes the visiting nurse is the only person they see on a regular basis.
Of course, the nurse must take into consideration both the patient’s faith and her own when it comes to shared prayer. Obviously, if I had a patient hostile to Christian beliefs or of another religious faith, I wouldn’t suggest openly praying for them. But in many, many cases, it is both appropriate and beneficial.
I’ve been an RN for 25 years; a visiting nurse for 15 of those years. There is nothing in my nurse practice act nor in my employee regulations that prohibits me from praying with or for a patient. In fact, a big part of nursing education (at least back in the LAST century, lol) was about paying attention to not only a patient’s physical health, but their spiritual and emotional health as well. (Do an internet search on nursing and spiritual health, and you’ll find addressing this aspect of a patient’s health is an integral part of both nursing theory and practice.)
While openly praying with a patient rarely happened when I worked in the hospital setting, it has occurred many, many times in my work as a visiting nurse. You get to know patients (especially long-term ones) in a much deeper way when you go to their homes (sometimes daily) and meet their families, friends, pets, etc. Many of these people are extremely isolated, with no connection to a church or pastor/priest. Sometimes the visiting nurse is the only person they see on a regular basis.
Of course, the nurse must take into consideration both the patient’s faith and her own when it comes to shared prayer. Obviously, if I had a patient hostile to Christian beliefs or of another religious faith, I wouldn’t suggest openly praying for them. But in many, many cases, it is both appropriate and beneficial.
I’ve been an RN for 25 years; a visiting nurse for 15 of those years. There is nothing in my nurse practice act nor in my employee regulations that prohibits me from praying with or for a patient. In fact, a big part of nursing education (at least back in the LAST century, lol) was about paying attention to not only a patient’s physical health, but their spiritual and emotional health as well. (Do an internet search on nursing and spiritual health, and you’ll find addressing this aspect of a patient’s health is an integral part of both nursing theory and practice.)
While openly praying with a patient rarely happened when I worked in the hospital setting, it has occurred many, many times in my work as a visiting nurse. You get to know patients (especially long-term ones) in a much deeper way when you go to their homes (sometimes daily) and meet their families, friends, pets, etc. Many of these people are extremely isolated, with no connection to a church or pastor/priest. Sometimes the visiting nurse is the only person they see on a regular basis.
Of course, the nurse must take into consideration both the patient’s faith and her own when it comes to shared prayer. Obviously, if I had a patient hostile to Christian beliefs or of another religious faith, I wouldn’t suggest openly praying for them. But in many, many cases, it is both appropriate and beneficial.
“It is so offensive to have someone pray for your recovery....What a sick world....”
What’s even worse is that the nurse did not pray. She only offered to pray.
And what does the BBC author mean by this quote?
Mrs Petrie, who qualified as a nurse in 1985, said she became a Christian following the death of her mother.
Isn't England a Christian country? And isn't it likely this nurse was born into the Church of England? And after seeing the vidoe, isn't it clear that Nurse Petrie is not an arab? Don't they mean to write that Mrs. Petrie converted from the Church of England to became a Baptist after the death of her mother? I have no problem with people converting from one Protestant Christian denomination to another, but let's not suggest that the Church of England (or Catholism for that matter) isn't "Christian" for indeed they are.
I find it annoying when people use the word "Christian" to mean Evangelical. Christian simply means you believe in Christ, which this nurse is and, most likely always was and which her patient also is.
Really? Where did the article do that?
Christian simply means you believe in Christ
Satan "believes", but he is scarcely a Christian.
A Christian is someone who has personally (individually) accepted Christ as his (or her) Savior, and who, as a direct result, has been born again by the grace of God. If Caroline Petrie says that she became a Christian after the death of her mother, I will take her at her word. Any previous Church membership is totally irrelevant.
To further clarify, evangelical and fundamentalist churches generally require that one already be a Christian (and then validly baptized) before being eligible for local church membership.
“Mrs Petrie said: “The woman mentioned it to the sister who did her dressing the following day. She said that she wasn’t offended but was concerned that someone else might be.”
So this nurse is suspended, not because someone was offended (which would have been bad enough) but because someone MIGHT have been offended????????
In all fairness to God, the people in this article make it pretty clear they don't want His help.
All UK hospitals have chapels and chaplains (usually co-opted from the local churches).
Apparently you need a dog-collar to be able to pray for someone. They must think God is too busy to listen to anyone else.
“Isn’t England a Christian country? And isn’t it likely this nurse was born into the Church of England? And after seeing the vidoe, isn’t it clear that Nurse Petrie is not an arab? Don’t they mean to write that Mrs. Petrie converted from the Church of England to became a Baptist after the death of her mother? I have no problem with people converting from one Protestant Christian denomination to another, but let’s not suggest that the Church of England (or Catholism for that matter) isn’t “Christian” for indeed they are.”
No country is a “Christian” country. There are countries where a majority of people are christian, or at least have been, so that the christian ethos is deeply embedded into the culture, but Christian belief is ultimately a very personal thing. Nurse Petrie may have been born into a family that “officially” is Anglican (about 60% of Britons are) but that is just a government statistic. Faith is not hereditary. This nurse may have come from a methodist background (about 8-10% of the population) or Catholic (about 10-12% of the population) or Baptist (about 3%). None of that is relevant in this case. She has chosen to be a Christian of the Baptist variety now. We are told that happened after her mother’s death. What her spiritual state was before that we do not know, nor does it actually matter (at least in the context of this scenario).
“I would think that the article would mention it if the old lady was a follower of a different religion - that would make it a “diversity” issue.”
If the old lady was Jewish or Muslim, I doubt it’d be reported. Only Christianity is allowed to be slammed these days.
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