Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity

Cultural diversity in the health care setting is increasing each year. Knowing how to care for patients of different religious and spiritual faiths is essential to providing high-quality, patient-centered care. The author of this paper will research three lesser-known religions; Taoism, Sikhism and Shamanism. Through this paper, she will provide a brief background on each of the three religions and present information regarding spiritual perspectives on healing, critical components of healing and health care considerations associated with each religion.

The United States has always been the symbol of freedom of religion and health care today has needed to increase its knowledge in incorporating the many different religions/spiritual beliefs in order to provide a more holistic approach to care. As health care providers we should not look in validating our own practice in regards to religion or spirituality but to comprehend and learn to see the patterns of similarities and differences in order to provide holistic care to our patients. As religious and spiritual beliefs are never permanent and are constantly changing and/or influenced by government, thinkers, historical events, technology and the shifting values of cultures the study of religions/spirituality should be continuous for all health care providers. The Native American, Buddhism, and Sikhism have some similar traits and values imbedded in their practiced religions that resemble the Christian Faith and medical providers needs to be aware and able to accommodate them in order to provide holistic care.

This paper provides a comprehensive look at the following faiths: Buddhism, Judaism, Baha’i, and Christianity. The reader will find that Buddhism is more of a philosophy than a religion that focuses on the mind as being the creator of illness and health. The reader will also find that Judaism, Baha’i, and Christianity are all religions that believe in one God, the creator of all. This paper lists various components that each of these faiths may use at one time or another to effect healing including prayer, meditation, chanting, the use of healers, etc. This paper also defines what is important to people

Today in our society the culture of hospital mainly concentrates on treating symptoms and curing patient physically rather than treating patients as whole. A holistic approach is invented in healing hospital. This paradigm encompasses healing person as a whole by upholding harmony of mind, body and spirit. According to Erie Chapman the president and CEO of the trust, the main commitment of healing hospital is to deliver and fashion a radical loving care ("Journal of Sacred work," 2009). In this essay writer will discuss the apparatuses of healing hospital and its relation to spirituality;

Saving the life of someone who is ill was the perfection of the Buddhist religion. After the Muslim invasions of India around the first period of time, Buddhism along with its medical systems, much of which disappeared from India and it was the lands to which Buddhism had spread which preserved much of its tradition, teachings and methods. As it became ingrained, Buddhism and its joint cultural arts and teachings defined a powerful social force in the lands to which it spread and was accountable for the building of hospitals, for both people and animals, as well as providing local health services for the native populations.

In both Buddhism and Christianity, there are critical component of healing such as prayers, meditation, belief and yoga. In holistic medical care, the medical personnel must take care of all aspect of the patient which includes the body, the emotions and the spiritual. The doctors and nurses should ensure that that they offer all necessary support that is

“Spiritual assessments are one of many ways the religion and spirituality are present in modern healthcare” (Cadge & Bandini, 2015, p. 431). From a personal perspective, the best way a healthcare professional can address the spiritual and religious needs of a patient when a life-threatening situation appears, is to first perform a spiritual assessment to the patient upon admission, second after being properly informed about the patient preferences, look for the proper spiritual services that best fulfill the patient’s needs and offer those available services to the patient. When treating patients, medical professionals need to be supportive throughout the patient’s course, listen to the patient’s needs and concerns, offer the available spiritual services, and be mindful of the patient’s spiritual history (Puchalski, 2001, p. 4). For some patients, spirituality is necessary to cope with life threatening situations and is the moral duty of healthcare professionals to help patients to accept their illness and find peace with their life’s.

The ethical guidelines of Buddhism are not to murder, lie, steal, drink, or participate in unlawful sexual behavior. Buddhists believe in the “Four Noble Truths: 1) human life is full of suffering; 2) suffering stems from cravings for pleasure and avoidance of pain; 3) suffering can be eradicated; 4) the path of freedom from suffering is the path of enlightenment.” (Julia Hardy) They also follow the Noble Eightfold Path in order to achieve the end of suffering. The Eightfold Path consists of: 1) Samma-Ditthi - Right view or understanding, 2) Samma-Sankappa - Right thought or attitude, 3) Samma-Vaca - Right speech, 4) Samma-Kammanta - Right Action, 5)

While many of the sects differed in some practices and beliefs, the core principles of Buddhism often remained prominent. One core principle from Mahayana Buddhism, one of the main two branches of Buddhism, was the pursuit of becoming a bodhisattva (Andreasen, 4). Bodhisattva was literally a “Being of Wisdom”, which meant one who is close to achieving enlightenment, or Nirvana, but delays enlightenment in order to help others achieve enlightenment (Wangu, 52). Another core principle of Buddhism was the high ethical code that was practiced. This discouraged immoral behavior, such as cheating and stealing, and instead encouraged living a simple and frugal life, devoid of extensive pleasures and self-denial (Bellah, 107). Like Shinto, Buddhists were very tolerant of other religions and were very willing to practice multiple practices.

Along with the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the Five Precepts are the core principles that guide one along the path of Buddhism. These Five Precepts being: not to cause harm to any living being, not to take anything not freely given, not to give into central overindulgence or misconduct, not to lie, and to avoid intoxicants. Like all other religions, there are followers who adhere to these precepts and there are those who do not. In the case of Buddhism, monks who commit to the monastery or more inclined to follow these principles. On the other hand, there are those who are Buddhist, even months, who strayed from these principles

The daily living that a Buddhist must follow are the five Buddhist Precepts. They are to refrain from intentionally causing the death of any living being i.e. insect, animals etc. Another, is purposely taking for one's own the possessions of another i.e. stealing and destroy. As well as sexual misconduct in particular adultery; Lying and breaking promises. Finally, drinking alcohol or taking stupefying drugs which lead to lack of mindfulness (Buddhism for beginner,

In each an every precept in Buddhism you have to respect those five rules in order to follow the path to enlightenment. Similar to the four noble truths the first noble truth talks about dhukha: frustration, dissatisfaction, incompleteness, suffering and sorrow. The Buddha quoted in the first noble truth “Life is change and change can never satisfy desire. Therefore everything that changes brings suffering.”(Eknath 43) Similarly to the five precepts to follow these rules you must change but by changing you will also suffered from it. Another connection between the two is the second noble truth when it talks about the cause of suffering comes from trishna “the thirst to get what ones want and to gets ones own way”. (44) Again similar to the precepts every one of the rules revolves on thirst for something or someone just like the craving for meat or the need to on the Internet. And lastly the fourth noble truth when it talks about “The Eightfold Path to Enlightenment”(44) same as the five precepts that was built as a practise to set a path to understanding enlightenment through respect the principals of the practise and understanding their reasoning. The precepts relate to the overall Buddhist worldview because it focuses on the importance of following those rules and when they are broken one should be aware of the breech and examine how such a breech may be avoided in the future. The resultant of an action (karma) depends on the intention more than the action itself. It entails less feelings of guilt. Buddhism places a great importance on 'mind' and it is mental suffering such as remorse, anxiety, guilt etc. should to be avoided in order to cultivate a calm and peaceful

Tibetan medicine practices the belief that methods must be practiced as equally as they are learned academically. Misinterpretations of certain Buddhist aspects of Eastern medicine create difficulties in relating Eastern and Western principles. Some Westerners feel that all you need to practice medicine in the East is a strong sense of compassion to help people, without having any real knowledge of the medical practices: “A few weekend courses and all the good intentions in the world it would seem is all that is thought to be necessary.” (Dummer p. 11). This, however, is not the case at all. Eastern practitioners spend years learning medical procedures and techniques before going into practice. They are also fully educated in the spiritual aspects of medicine as well, as for religion plays a significant role in Eastern practices. Inadequate training may result in improper care and detrimental diagnosis to those who may be seriously ill or suffering from undiagnosed diseases.7

As one first starts learning about Buddhism, they will learn that the most fundamental guideline of living a meaningful life is to follow the 5 precepts. Fortunately you don’t have to go too deep into these precepts before you come across the first precept

Buddhism does not regard ethics as a particular set of duties, rights, imperatives or obligations that should be used to evaluate the actions of a person. Instead, Buddhism views as the “accumulated wisdom” that one acquires in the areas of life and that are related to the fundamental problem that every person encounters—suffering (Voorst 2007; Becker & Becker, 2013). This paper will attempt to argue that the four noble truths are the basis onto which Buddhist ethics are founded; therefore, understanding the truths reveals the prominent elements of Buddhist ethical concerns.