Article Summaries

Editorial-Spiritual Care Ethical? by Judith Allen Shelly
Shelly agrees with an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that the research on the relationship between religion and health is inconclusive, but her reason is because it is impossible to quantify the effects of a relationship with God. The article questioned the ethics of spiritual care because of the unequal relationship between the health care professional and the patient. Shelly responds that just as we wouldn’t withhold information that would help someone medically, we should not refrain from sharing with patients the good news of the gospel, if we have a personal relationship with God, tempered with proper training.

Embracing Shalom: Moving into Fullness of Life by Grace J. Tazelaar
Weaving the story of her sister’s life and death into the article, Tazelaar discusses the shalom concept by exploring reconciliation with God, with self, with fellow humans and with creation and the environment. She covers the basic spiritual needs for love and belonging and for forgiveness, and explains in depth how Christianity with God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ is the means of ultimate reconciliation and the answer to our needs.

Journey of a Lamb: Walking Through Dementia Together by Joy Ruth Cohen
As a respite volunteer, Cohen meets, befriends and grows to love dearly an elderly lady who has named herself Crystalline Madeline Conway. This is the story of their relationship during their weekly times together, as, over time, Crystalline’s Alzheimer’s becomes more debilitating. For all her disease, Crystalline has some amazing spiritual insights. Their friendship marks Cohen’s life forever.

A Gift of Song by Margie Maddox
We all have gifts, and Maddox wanted to use hers in her volunteer visits with hospice patients. Borrowing a technique she used to communicate with Sunday-school children, she began taking her Autoharpä with her to accompany her singing of words of some of the psalms to the melodies of familiar songs. She noticed that the clients, near the end of their lives, not only enjoyed the music, but relaxed and were comforted.

Spiritual Care: Safe, Appropriate, Ethical by Linda L. Treloar
Treloar presents a strong case for why Christian nurses can and should include spiritual care into the holistic care they provide patients, without offending patients or violating institutional standards. Sidebars include learning objectives for integrating spirituality into health care, and a spirituality self pre-assessment to administer to students. The Stallwood model of the conceptual nature of man in also included in the article.

How Can We Pray for Nursing? by Joann P. Wessman
Wessman is a nursing professor who has prayed for the nursing profession every Tuesday morning for several decades. She invited her students to visualize Jesus standing in the classroom, inviting them to share their requests for nursing. She was encouraged and inspired by their responses. You will be too.

Dark Night or Spiritual Peace? Lessons from a 16^th Century Mystic by Patricia Kobielus Thompson
Thompson sees a parallel between the "letting go" in the theology of St. John of the Cross with the nursing care required by hospice nurses, when the necessity for and the appropriateness of high technology care is past. Special spiritual resources are needed by nurses at this twilight stage of life to meet the need of patients to find the innate sacredness of life, to be strengthened by the "sheer grace" of God.

In His Image (poem) by Mary Elizabeth O’Brien
This story takes us back to the sufferings of Christ as he bears his cross on the road to Golgotha. A watching follower, Veronica, grieves for him. A parallel is drawn to a homeless man, beaten by punks and brought into the ER. One is the divine son of God, the other a human son of God.

Elizabeth’s Little Black Box by Sandy Rensvold
As a volunteer visitor, Rensvold develops a relationship with this 83-year-old cultured, educated lady who is now quite alone in a long-term care facility. She has squirreled away various medications and instructions and discusses with the author whether she might help her take her life, when existence becomes unbearable. Rensvold objects and the subject is eventually dropped, even when the woman moves to another part of the country. Rensvold helped pack her things—but didn’t send the little box. She wonders if she did the right thing. Discussion questions at the end will stimulate your thinking about what you would do in such a situation. A Nurses Christian Fellowshipâ positional statement, "This We Believe About Life and Its Value" is included as a sidebar.

No DNR: A Time to Walk? by Marcena Walker
We’ve all been there, done that. Wished there was a "Do not resuscitate" order on a poor old soul, but there isn’t. So we initiate vigorous CPR against our best judgment, but because of conscience and the law. The aged, brittle ribs snap with compressions, our hearts hurt for the patient. The patient does not survive. This nurse looks back on that scenario and wonders--is it compassionate to walk instead of running with the crash cart? Is a "slow code" euthanasia? Discussion questions are included at the end.

Ministry in ICU by Joyce a. Hahn
A sensitive nurse goes beyond the call of duty to spend time with an elderly man and his wife, dying in the ICU unit where the nurse works. The grateful husband returns the next day, the gift of a poem in his hand, a tribute to the nurse.

Nutu’s Leg by Brenda W. Gunter
This young teen street child needs a prosthesis, and Gunter faces many challenges to get the leg made and to Romania—and still has to make it fit and work. Making it happen is a life-changing experience for Gunter, as well as Nutu.

Summer in the Metro Jail by Carol Steele James
Participating in a grad school research project took this nurse to the jail as the instructor of a ten-week diabetic education series for inmates. The nurses treated the inmates with dignity and respect and gave out fresh fruit as attendance rewards. In turn, the inmates were interested and respectful, listening carefully to discussions about the complications of diabetes and ways to prevent them. They enjoyed the reprieve from lonely jail cells. The nurses ended up being blessed by the experience of living the Great Commission behind locked doors.

Why I Love Nursing: Directed Steps by Ann Booth
Booth did not travel the usual straight line to become a nurse, beginning nursing school at age thirty-six. But all along the way, she felt the Lord’s hand guiding her path. Right after graduation she went to a busy labor and delivery room where she really wanted to work. She soon found that with the wonderful experience of childbirth comes a stressful side, requiring quick thinking, quick moving and lots of prayer.

Return to the Spring 2001 Issue

Return to the Journal of Christian Nursing