Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity

Abstract

This paper focuses on three different faiths, which are Sikh, Buddhism, and Baha. The paper will reveal the philosophy of offering care from the three perspectives with that of Christianity. The spiritual perspectives of healing will be discussed first in the paper. The paper will then look at the significant healing elements in each faith. Also, is the paper sheds kight on the critical values of individuals of a specific faith when offered care by the health care providers whose spiritual background differs from their own. The paper finally portrays how this can be useful to a health care provider practice.

Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity

It is crucial for a health care professional to realize the distinctive spiritual individuality and beliefs of each patient or family who is admitted at the hospital setup. Nurses have the greatest chance to ensure their patients complex religious and spiritual needs in a given crisis. Facilitating these requirements requires an extremely commanding influence on the patient results and can add up to the patients strength to manage with their human circumstances. The significance of the belief system of the patient must not be underrated, and at the same time, the beliefs of the nurse must never be enforced on the patient, especially during such weak periods of the patient. If the nurse upholds a level of esteem for the patient that goes beyond their own ideology, then they can promote and honor the self-respect of the patient.

Not one individuals belief should be treated as good or bad, right or wrong. The professional nurse should instead take into consideration the spiritual evaluation to be a sacred dialogue that offers them with important details for giving exceptional patient care. This feature of the role of the nurse is crucial for that matter, particularly in regard with reducing the chance for cross-cultural misinterpretations. Individual views and beliefs on religion and spirituality originate from the distinctive life experiences of a human being. These views can be of a spiritual or a religious perspective, or they may involve a context that does not include religion or spirituality at all.

The accommodation of various religious beliefs is a crucial element of health care. Thus, it is crucial that we comprehend the different faiths and take care of patients without going against their faith and culture. Except in some instances, some religions are in harmony with the three basic principles on one hand and similar teachings and related teachings to their followers on the other hand, and that is the reality of an ultimate authority, supremacy of a human being and harmonization between knowledge and action. The three faiths that are mentioned in the paper are Sikh, Buddhism, and Baha.

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Buddhism Religion and Perspective

Focusing on Buddhism faith, Buddha lived 2600 years ago in the northern India, and for 45 years, he educated his followers on how to survive in a bid to conquer suffering. His teachings are summarized as: Do Good, Do No Harm, and Meditate. These teachings are spread all over the world. Meditation is a crucial element of healing for them. The Buddhists live on the premise that meditation is a powerful practice for developing insight into the crucial realization that an individual is not independent, autonomous, and separate as we may figure out ourselves. Some of the major points that a health care provider should take into consideration when attending a Buddhist is that they, in most cases, prefer same sex health care professional to attend to them. According to the Buddhist religion and their family guidelines, the health care provider should always realize that a priest plays a crucial role in making decisions that are in harmony with his or her individual understanding, temperament, and condition.

Sikhs Religion and Perspective

The basic belief of Sikhs is that there is only One Formless, Universal, Timeless God of all the people who is also the maker of the universe and living things. Sikh stands for discipline, and Sikhism is the discipline of reflecting on the name of God, sharing with the less fortunate, noble service to humanity, and earning a living by honest means. The Sikhs pay attention to prayer during times of disease and illness. They believe that one of the ways God punishes an individual for the sins committed is by making them suffer and fall sick. Therefore, during times of suffering and sickness, they pray to God for peace and forgiveness. They listen to gods words in the form of Gurbani, the sacred hymns used by the Sikh and preserved in the Holy Scripture. These offer them with physical and spiritual strength to overcome sickness. Thus, the health care should always accommodate and respect their request to listen to sacred music in their rooms since this is one of the important elements of their process of healing.

Though they believe falling sick is the will of God, they are cooperating in taking their medical treatment as they make efforts to get well. Their spiritual perspective on healing is seeking help from God in order to get well. They are encouraged to acknowledge illness and death as the will of God and as part of life. It may be common for Sikh patients to get many visitors while at the hospital since they have well-knit relations. Prayer is a vital element of healing for the Sikhs, and this can be done anywhere as it usually practiced three times a day. Another element of healing for the people includes meditation to relieve depression and anxiety, as well as listening to sacred hymns and music.

Some of the features of care for the Sikh patients include valuing their privacy and modesty by announcing an arrival or by knocking on the door, valuing the patients space by restricting unnecessary touching, and avoiding interrupting for routine care a patient who is praying. It is also crucial to be sensitive to the five Ks symbols of faith, which they may decide to adopt. These include uncut hair, a steel bracelet, a wooden comb, a ceremonial sword, and underwear.

Bahas Religion and Perspective

The Baha Faith is the youngest of the global independent religions. It was founded in 1817 to 1892 and is believed to be the most recent in the line of Gods Messengers stretching back to the old ancient times of Moses, Zoroaster, Abraham, Muhammad, and Christ. The fundamental message is that humanity is a distinct race and that it has reached a time for an association into one universal society. They live on the premise that true health is more than the bodily health. Apart from the bodily well-being, it is crucial that there is a link between the emotional and spiritual well-being of the individual with their bodily health that one has to consider.

Nurses and other health care providers have to value and consider the benefit of realizing the beliefs and religion of their patients in the best care possible. Baha relies on the belief that they can get well by praying daily and using medicine. Some of the crucial values of the Baha faith the health care provider should consider according to patient health care guidelines is that the respect and spiritual requirements of the patient should be upheld. As in the case of the Sikhs, they would wish to have same sex care providers: however, abortion is strongly rejected in their faith.

The medical personnel professing this faith that is different from what the patient acknowledges should take into consideration the patients faith in providing health care. To provide holistic care, the practitioner should identify the diversity of the patients they are attending to. They should be open and should be flexible to mind about the faith of their patients while providing care. The nurse should be in a position to involve with his or her faith and acknowledge their patients faith. The medical care involves ensuring all the features of the patient including the emotional, spiritual, physical beliefs of the person are well taken care of. The patients faith plays a major role in his or her healing. For example, meditation is a religious practice in some religions like Buddhism, which has been discovered to contain medical impact, especially designed to heal psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. In the modern times, the medical practitioners have integrated the faith of the patient in the healing process, and this has emerged to be working effectively.

Faith and spirituality in many people play a major role in the general healing and health. As a health care practitioner, it is crucial to evaluate the faith of the patient before offering care. Health care practitioners are not expected to be aware of every kind of faith in the world, but talking with the patient and evaluating their faiths in relation to their personal beliefs will provide a better understanding of the patient and their perspectives of health. It is of importance to the health care practitioner to accommodate and integrate their patients belief while providing medical care. The patient may come from different beliefs and faiths, and as it is well-known, that faith is believed to have an influence on the health of the patient. The practices in diverse religions should be taken into consideration in order to provide a holistic care for the patient. If the patient realizes that the health care provider acknowledges them, they will develop confidence in the health care and that speeds up and enhances the healing process.

According to several studies, when the health care practitioners respect and realize the diverse beliefs of their patients while providing medical care, an atmosphere of healing is formed. The providers can attain this by permitting the patient to utilize their faith for the instances of meditating, praying, and even fasting, and at the same time permitting the patients friends, family and relatives to pay them a visit as part of the therapy to include medical care.

Conclusion

In conclusion, all these diverse faiths have their own customs and beliefs, and the common thing about them is that they all believe that God is the Supreme and this is a vital element of their healing process. Secondly, the welfare of every human being is accorded importance by all religions. The health care professional should therefore respect and acknowledge every diverse religion and operate with the best mind possible while providing care to the patient. Undertaking an all-inclusive spiritual evaluation respects the self-worth and dignity of the patient. For some patients, this may enhance positive and immediate outcomes. Individual questions during the spiritual evaluation include inquiring about what or who provides the patient with hope or strength. The nurse should also inquire whether the patients religious services or faith, is significant in coping with the sickness. Religious services hospitalized patients tend to entail the use of rites and rituals, visits from family or clergy, use meditation and prayer. All this can lead to the healing process of the patient as they are crucial elements depending on the values and beliefs.

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