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Notes on article by N. E. Conner and L. S. Eller “Spiritual perspectives, needs and nursing interventions of Christian African–Americans”
The article concludes that “the potential for spiritual care to influence both the psychological and physiological health of patients either directly or indirectly speaks to the urgency of providing patients with appropriate spiritual assessment and interventions” (631). I found this to be the most important part of the article, because while the authors had chosen to explore one subgroup as an example of the spiritual needs of the patients, this conclusion refers to all patients. “Respondents also wrote in their need for nurses to pray with and share personal beliefs with them. We found that 41% of desired spiritual nursing interventions were related to nurses’ direct participation in spiritual activities,…
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Notes on the article by by Patricia J. Kelly, PhD et al. “Exploring the Theoretical Framework of Cultural Competency Training”
The article explores the theoretical frameworks of cultural competency training for Physician Assistants. It discusses the importance of such training, the main theories of health care cultural competency, and a brief history of its implementation. They propose shifting the view of cultural competency training from being one of the additional topics in the curriculum of medical students to being one of the foundation courses. The authors explain that teaching cultural norms and exposing the students to cultural diversity will not train the students how to appropriately elicit cultural information from patients. They point out that such authors as Shapiro, Lie, Gutierrez, and Zhung have discovered that medical students “tend to…
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Steps to Becoming a Chaplain
Chaplaincy training programs can be found at various colleges, universities, and seminaries. Many of these programs are master’s degree programs or form part of graduate level education. Courses may include counseling theory, theology and officiating religious ceremonies. Some organizations require prospective chaplains to have between two and four years of religious leadership experience, and some require ordination. Even though many chaplains are ordained ministers, one does not have to be ordained to work as a chaplain, but he or she has to have an endorsement or commission from a faith group. An endorsement may be obtained after satisfying specific education and training objectives outlined by an authority in that faith…