Faith Community Nursing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since July 2006. |
Faith Community Nursing, also known as Parish Nursing, Congregational Nursing or Church Nursing, is a movement of over 10,000 registered nurses, primarily in the United States and Canada, but growing in numbers in the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, is the intentional integration of the practice of faith with the practice of nursing so that people can achieve wholeness in, with, and through the community of faith in which parish nurses serve.
Parish nurses educate and activate people to take positive action regarding wellness, prevention, appropriate treatment of illness, and mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health within their local community, neighborhood, and world.
The roles of a parish nurse usually include the following:
- Integrator of Faith and Health - A parish nurse assists parishioners to achieve higher levels of wellness by improving both their spiritual and physical health.
- Health Educator - Parish nurses are available for health education, and provide opportunities to learn about health issues, individually and in groups.
- Health Counselor - A parish nurse is available to discuss health concerns, emphasizing early response to small problems and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
- Referral Advisor - A parish nurse is available to provide referrals to healthcare and social services within the community upon request.
- Health Advocate - A parish nurse speaks out to help obtain needed health-related services.
- Developer of Support Groups - A parish nurse facilitates the development of support groups for the faith community and others served.
- Volunteer Coordinator - A parish nurse recruits, prepares and oversees congregational volunteers who help those in need.
[edit] Faith Communities for Parish Nursing
These organizations help to support parish nursing and serve a wide variety of faith communities:
