Abstract
Each belief system has its history, some that are recent, others originating from the antiquity. Every religion demonstrates its practices on the daily living based on the traditions, rules, values, and beliefs. However, not all the religious practices are relevant to the nursing care, although those religions are important in the normal life. Despite the religious practices, many religions have great respect to the healthcare and they assist the healthcare givers in many ways, especially by relieving the patients some religious duties, including fasting during a period of illness. In this aspect, the research will focus on the Christianity and Buddhism Philosophies towards providing Health Care. In addition, the study will also focus on common components to all religions regarding healing as well as the most important aspect for the patients who are cared for by health care providers with different beliefs. Finally, the discussion will highlight on the personal spiritual perspective on healing.
Christianity and Buddhism Philosophies towards Providing Health Care
Introduction
Nursing is taken as an activity that nurses intervene to promote the health and prevent the illness as well as involving in those activities that facilitate recovery from the illnesses or at the same time help achieve a peaceful death. In essence, the patients must be given the choice when it comes to treatments by informed consent devoid pressure from the caregivers to conform. In fact, this is an ethical decision that is evident in the religious belief of a patient. The underlying principle of this research paper is to provide a comparative analysis of Christianity and Buddhism philosophies towards providing health care.
Christianity Philosophy towards Healthcare
To understand the Christian philosophy towards nursing, it is important to consider the God’s scripture where the Christian nursing emerged. In the Bible, nursing was not a professional role, but a concept where a woman took care of the young children and infants by feeding them. In the Jesus’ ministry, nursing also featured significantly in his teachings, and he demonstrated this by caring for the oppressed and the poor, healing the sick, and ordered his followers to observe the same. Under those premises, the aspect of healthcare, including spiritual, physical, and psychosocial dimensions become the concern of the entire Church (Greenstreet, 2006).
In the scripture, nursing feature predominantly and it is expressed as a response to the Grace of God, which stream from the active personal affiliation with the creator. Secondly, it is regarded as the functions in the milieu of the body of Christ as well as the ministry of the church. Thirdly, nursing is Christianity perspective is said to identify the function of sin amidst the perfectly created world and at the same time attempt to restore righteousness and justice. In the scripture, Christian nursing recognizes that individuals are created in the image of God. Therefore, they should work towards the ultimate health, which is the goal of the Shalom. Finally, Christian nursing in the scripture is confirmed in the provision of the compassionate care, which is exemplified by the fruit of the spirit.
Providing healthcare is the work of every Christian and the ministry in the early church and the New Testament observed this aspect. It entails preaching the gospel and delivering the relief to the disadvantaged. Jesus demonstrated this when he washed the disciples’ feet and instructed them to follow suit. However, the ministry of nursing is much of servant work that should be done by an intrinsically motivated Christian without any expectation of material gain. It is considered dirty work as demonstrated through emptying bedpans and the washing of peoples’ feet. The Christianity calls for giving out their time and offering their days off to cater for the need of the patient by cleaning their apartments, assisting them in their activities, and buying dressings if they cannot afford them. They should give up, their lucrative positions and offer to work in a small clinic, which pay less as far as they are offering service to the humanity. They should also spend time with sick and offer their hours in counseling and encouraging them. Indeed, they should also offer their time and resources and offer their services to those organizations that develop the policies that will shape the future for the better healthcare. In addition, Christian nurses should be active in a political system that advocate for justice in the health delivery. According to Jesus, servanthood should focus on whom we are serving, in this aspect; Jesus indicated that when a person serves another individual in the love of Christ, the same service reflects the service to Jesus (Matthew 25:40).
The compassionate care is demonstrated in the story of the Good Samaritan, which was described by Jesus (Luke 10:30-35). In this aspect, Christian nurses are supposed to offer their services to the humanity without discrimination. They should not be restricted by race, religion, political status among others. In fact, their service to humanity should be regarded as the service to God. In this compassionate act by the Good Samaritan, it is worth noting that Christian compassionate should be accompanied by concrete physical act rather than just emotional compassionate, a metaphysical event, or an intellectual concept. Christians are supposed to care for all the people, even when they are not able to articulate their needs. In fact, they should not expect any favor from those individuals they are assisting.
In essence, Christian philosophy towards the provision of health care is anchored on the scripture at the beginning of time. In Gen 3:21, the God act of care is demonstrated when He made cloth for Adam and Eve despite their disobedient towards God. The act of love and compassionate demonstrate by God is a clear indication that His involvement towards the lives of individuals is physical and practical. His act of meeting the peoples’ needs despite their status is evident.
Finally, Christian nursing should have a holistic approach, including emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychosocial. In essence, the healing takes place after all the necessary measures are considered, and the patient is placed in the hands of the Lord Jesus who is regarded as the greatest physician (Is 53:5). Those who care for the sick, the needy, and the poor exhibit the God’s character to the world. Therefore, the implication of Christian nursing is based on the aspects that provision of health care services is to glorify God and demonstrate the light of Christ through love, power, and humility. The aspect creates improvement in the healthcare sector.
Buddhism Philosophy towards Healthcare Provision
Buddhism has been associated with the healthcare and healing, extending over thousands of years across Asia. The aspect of this religion is more of understanding than a belief. They emphasize on the enlightenment of the public in the modern space and time context (Pittman, 2001). The life is viewed as an inevitable progression of birth, illness, aging, and death. The liberation from suffering takes place through the “Middle Way doctrine,” which is the state of Nirvana and Enlightenment (Griffith, 2009). Physical health constitutes the normal functioning of the body and its organs. If one organ is not functioning properly, an illness demonstrates. The equilibrium and the harmony of the body bring normal function of the body. If the equilibrium is disrupted, then there is an imbalance and the body assumes the state of disease.
The classical Buddhism did not develop the concept of human rights. However, the belief indicates that all individuals have the potential for enlightenment, which offer the grounding in respect of a person’s inherent worth and dignity. Just like in the Christianity, Buddhism encourages compassionate behavior for both the caregivers and the healthcare professionals. The caregiver should offer the physical needs of the needy, including bathing the sick because attending to the sick is a demonstration that one attends to the Buddha. The Buddha showed compassionate by caring for the needy, including attending to the physical need of ill monks.
Buddha indicated that in providing healthcare a nurse should be knowledgeable in the need of the patient and the medical procedures, as well as perform the nursing duties in the sense of service instead of for the sake of the salary. In essence, compassion and kindness should be the guiding principle in the healthcare provision. The nurse, according to the Buddha should provide care to the patient’s mental state by conveying spiritual guidance under the truth of the Dharma (Skorupski, 1999). In addition, the patient is supposed to demonstrate honestly and give full disclosure of his/her condition or the nature of the illness. In addition, the patients are supposed to cooperate, stick to the treatment plan, and persevere the pain during treatment.
Common Components to all Religions
In all religions across the world, there are common components connected to healing. Those critical elements include prayers, meditation, and various beliefs. Prayers are one of the fundamental approaches that have been used by many people in an attempt to cure diseases or relieve pain. In fact, prayers have supported healing process; however, other aspects of prayers impede the provision of healthcare. In fact, prayers have been found to improve the outcome of individuals, to worsen the outcome, and to have no effect on the outcome. Through prayers, for instance, Christians direct their needs to their God and beliefs that they will receive healing even without visiting the health practitioner. In other religions, including Buddhism, they practice meditation where they commit their thoughts and mind in bringing the inner peace and control through a single point of reference (Barnes, Davis, Murzynowski, & Treiber, 2004). Meditation has its benefits in relaxing the body, and the mind, and it is associated with improved health. In fact, through meditation, there is significance in resting that alters how the body organs operate. Through this religious approach, there is a reduction in anxiety and stress, which are the main causes of many illnesses.
Different Beliefs between the Patient and Care Provider
The most important aspect of the patients who are cared for by health care providers with different beliefs is to ensure that both parties keep in mind that there are different religious traditions, which may affect the patient, care team, and the family during the hospitalization process. The care provider must encourage the patient to interpret how the cultural and religious values are pertinent during their hospitalization regarding their interaction with the staff, personal needs, and the decisions about the treatment (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009). The patients should indicate their religion on the caregivers and the practical items that may affect them during the hospitalization. The patients should also respect the beliefs of the caregivers and try to come up with a consensus to ensure that no party is offended during the hospitalization period.
Personal Spiritual Perspective on Healing
As a Christian, prayers are fundamental aspects of someone’s life and should be an integral part of our life. Healing is both spiritual and physical because when an individual goes to a health practitioner and receives treatment, there is a spiritual aspect that should tell the patient that he/she is going to be healed. As the scripture records, faith without action is dead. Therefore, a modern Christian should pray for healing and at the same time seek medical advice from those professional that God has given the knowledge to attend to his people.
The same aspect should be applied in healthcare setup, especially for those individuals who stick in prayers and meditation without visiting the healthcare centers. The care providers should encourage the patients to continue praying and meditating while at the same time they continue to receive treatment, after all, Jesus is the ultimate healer. On other religions, the practitioners should first understand the religious beliefs of their patient and encourage them to accept and embrace the modern healthcare because it complements their wellbeing and strengthen their beliefs.
References
Andrade, C., & Radhakrishnan, R. (2009). Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4), 247–253.
Barnes, V., Davis, H., Murzynowski J., & Treiber F. (2004). Impact of meditation on resting and ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate in youth. Psychosom Med (66):909–14.
Greenstreet, W. (2006). Integrating spirituality in health and social care: Perspectives and practical approaches. Oxford: Radcliffe.
Griffith J, K. (2009). The religious aspect of nursing care. Impatient Health Care Facilities.1-55
Pittman, D. A. (2001). Toward a modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s reforms. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai’i Press.
Skorupski, T. (1999). Health and suffering in Buddhism: Doctrinal and existential considerations. In J.R. Hinnells and R. Porter (Eds.) Religion, health and suffering (pp. 139-165). London: Kegan Paul International.
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