Healing Hospital

Patient’s stay in the hospital can become a pleasant experience when nurses let them create their healing environment. Billadeau (2013) writes about her experience during her recovery at a skilled-care facility following a surgery to remove a malignant melanoma in her foot. She realized that, “the staff were all kind and wanted her to recover”…and “they commented on the uplifting music, and the nice lavender/lemon smell in our room””. This was a challenging but pleasant experience for her because “I focused on my own healing environment” (Billadeau, 2013).

Since a healing hospital is filled with spirituality, I believe that having a bible handy is important for the medical staff. If asked a question about life or healing or any other aspect, the doctor or nurse can reference a bible verse to make the patient feel more peaceful or tranquil about the stay at the hospital. Proverbs 24:14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off; this specific verse I believe is a good verse to recite to a person who is losing hope, because it is saying to look within yourself and find the wisdom, which I also think can mean strength, therefore finding the hope the person needs to continue fighting. In Jeremiah 29:11, which states, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. This verse is good to give to a patient who is feeling let down by the lord. This is stating that God has his own plans for each person and in those plans there is no evil. God will not let anything bad happen to the person, instead he will do anything for the specific person to have hope for the future and look ahead to a healthy and better life. An example that hope and faith are two things that

“Patients are biological, psychological, social, and spiritual entities who present at a particular developmental stage. The whole patient (body, mind, and spirit)

I think that in order to care for the patient in a complete and holistic way, it is of utmost importance that we take into consideration not only their more obvious physical needs, but also their emotional and spiritual needs.

The second factor is faith-hope that translates to being authentically present, and enabling the beliefs of the patient being cared for and the professional who is providing patient care. The third factor is sensitivity to self and other, this becomes cultivations of one’s own spiritual practices, going beyond self, and opening to others with compassion and kindness. The fourth factor is helping, trusting, human care relationship that evolves to developing and maintaining a trusting, authentic, and caring relationship. The fifth factor is expressing positive and negative feeling. The translation of this factor is being supportive when positive and negative feelings with a connection of a higher spirit. The sixth factor is creative problem-solving caring process. This factor requires scientific problem-solving for decision-making and creative use of self. The seventh factor is transpersonal teaching-learning. When using the seventh factor the nurse engages in sincere teaching learning experience. The eighth factor is supportive, protective, and corrective mental, physical, social, and spiritual environment. The environment created allows healing to occur at different levels. The ninth factor is human needs assistance. The patient receives assistance with basic needs with special attention to the mind, body, and soul. The tenth factor is existential phenomenological spiritual

The inception of the “Healing Hospital” is not new. Healing hospitals in various forms have been around throughout history. As hospitals were slowly taken over by religious orders they became more holistic concentrating on all aspects of healing including physical, mental, and spiritual. Instead of focusing on the patient as a carrier of disease and death they began to look at them as a person that has certain fundamental needs for existence. One of these needs as fore mentioned is spirituality. Spirituality simply defined “is that which relates to or affects the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. Spirituality touches that part of you that is not dependent on material things or physical comforts” (Living Words

When a patient enters the healthcare setting the primary focus is the process of helping the patient get better. Patient care has emerged into the healing hospital paradigm. This new focus is on patient care and not just the disease process. Healthcare organizations are now recognizing that the latest research demonstrates the benefits of a healing environment. Healthcare providers need to reach people on a personal level. The concept of the healing hospital paradigm research reveals that specific design changes in healthcare

cure. Hospitals not only have to meet the demands of curing illnesses, but also have to accommodate the spiritual needs and comfort of patients. Hospitals are generally built and organized in the effort to help patients gain support by having the opportunity to turn towards religion during difficult times. Hospitals in general have various religious leaders on call if a patient were to request them. They also have places of worship available to serve as a sanctuary for patients. These places are equipped with sacred texts from different religions such as the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible. As described in the article, “Sacred spaces in public places: religious and spiritual plurality in health care”, “These spaces evoked a feeling of sacredness of space and time – a sense of transcendence, immanence or connectedness in the everyday” (Reimer-Kirkham 203). This tranquil feeling can help to relieve the stress of the body, being proved to help the bodies process of healing, or in the case of terminally ill patients, helps them to develop a more positive outlook on what is happening. They are able to turn towards religion as support for the difficult time.

A healing hospital is a healing community providing radical loving care (Journal of Sacred Work, 2009) in a safe environment that focuses on human interaction, interpersonal caring and enhancing the wellbeing of patients, caregivers, and all other members of the healing community. While a healing hospital is, of course, dedicated to providing excellent medical care to its patients (Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, 2012), it is also dedicated to integrating work design and technology (Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, 2012), and ultimately to the overall wellness of every healing community member. Using physical healing, education and supportive human interaction, this care model seeks healing on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels for everyone involved in the process (Zarren, n.d., pp. 1-2). The success of this model requires the cooperation of every

The objective of this paper is to unravel the reason and manner by which nurses take care of patients as human beings. I believe that patients are best taken care of when nurses handle them in such a way that humans need to be taken care of: through a holistic and spiritual treatment. By rationalizing humanistic nursing theories with theories of human nature, such as dualism and existentialism, as well as perceiving man as an embodied spirit and a relational being, a more holistic approach is given to a patient as a human being.

One of the main goals of healthcare facilities is to provide the patients with a “healing environment”. The goal of the healing environment is to remove the patient from all the toxic and hazards to give them time to heal. Three concepts that help creating a stable environment will be explain in this paper. These concepts are the seen environment, the unseen environment, and the storied environment.

Nurses that listen to their patients, not only notice that they are physically hurt, but they can also notice their emotional wounds. The empathy of knowing that the patient is emotionally hurt is part of the spirituality connection. Therefore, they might need comfort. O’Brien (2001) states that, “ No other profession provides the opportunity to touch and be touched by the human spirit as does the practice of nursing. It is this intimacy that calls us to reverence: reverence for God as our creator and Lord…” (pg.110). Nurses have the privilege to connect with people in ways that no other profession may be able to provide. Since nurses are patients advocate, our duty is to connect them with their spiritual beliefs and

In today’s society, it is easily forgotten how the little things that are done for other people can mean so much to them. Sometimes it’s a simple smile, a wave hello, or lending a listening ear. All these little actions are considered actions that heal. As a nurse, being a healing presence is an art that comes with the job. In the hospital, nurses work with patients from different walks of life. By being present in the moment, this turns a dreadful experience of being in a hospital, to one that is appreciated. Jean Watson stresses the importance of the patient’s environment in caritas process eight: “creating a healing environment at all levels” (Watson, 2008, p. 129). This includes both the physical and non-physical environment, the patients, comfort, safety, privacy, human dignity, and a clean surrounding (p.129). This caritas process stresses that the nurse is the environment for the patient; with the nurse providing little aspects of patient care such as light, art, water cleanliness, privacy, nutrition, beauty, safety, hand washing, comfort measures and others’ routines and rituals, the patients will have a more pleasant experience (p. 129). An analysis of how caritas process eight is incorporated into the nurse and student nurses care in relation to the nurse-patient relationships, patients environment, religious beliefs, safety and upholding the patients dignity.

The first part of healing needs to understand the true source of sickness and death. The greatest issue that people are faced with is that they believe “it is God’s Will” or that “it’s part of a process” and this is where most people fall short of healing. People need to realize that the power is in your tongue and that one's confession does make a difference in how life will turn out. Also, how it is not God’s will for one to be sick or to have diseases and that only Satan wants that because he is your adversary. Another area where people fall short is when realizing the true source of the disease and the spirit of infirmity which keeps people from becoming healed. Another way for people to become healed is to refuse sickness that is in one's body. This includes making sure that one confession is nothing but positive and helpful for one's life. A confession is something that most people feel is not going to harm them when they are

One thing I recently realized from the Bible was that Jesus Christ preached the Gospel and healed the sick at the same time. Preaching and healing are inseparable in His ministry. I used to consider my calling is preaching the Word of God, sharing His love with others and glorifying God through my life. Healing ministry was not on the list of my calling. Actually, I had a skeptical view in healing, so tend to limit the power of miraculous healing, which could happen only in a special occasion. Personally, I have not experienced the power of healing prayer even though I continually pray for the sick. With having that said, my prayer for the sick was more like pastoral care to give them comforts in their hearts rather than having a great expectation of healing.