How Nurses Should Care for Jewish, Muslim and Christian Patients, Essay Example

Stereotyping is a common problem in the human society today. It could be analyzed that such attitude toward particular matters involving specific group of individuals often lead to social anxiety especially for those afflicted by the said reaction from the communities surrounding them. Relatively, this has been proven factual through the interview that was held for the establishment of a classroom discussion. As noted in the video presentation, Beth Cats, the Executive Director of Project Interfaith, mentioned how stereotyping has actually affect the Jewish group of individuals, which specifically includes the way they are understood as individuals not only by the society as a whole but by institutions supposed to give them assistance like that of the medical agencies. Maisha Lawaru, Executive Director of the Islamic Speaker Bureau of Nebraska, supports such an idea through pointing out that their concerns for better health need not separate them from the whole community, instead, it should set them as a source of challenge that ought to redefine the pattern of operations organizations take including that of the medical industry. But what really constitutes the structure of beliefs that define the three largest religious denominations including Muslims, Jews and the Christians? How should the information about their religion affect the nursing operations taken into account today?

In relation to the Jewish religion, the Jewish medical operations and concerns about their religion could be drawn upon the rabbinic law or also noted as the Halkhah (Monotheistic Religions). Among the most crucial issues considered within this law include abortion, artificial insemination, psychiatric medicine, cosmetic surgery and euthanasia (Brody, 2000). Regarding this matter, it is important to note that guilt s a very important issue among Jews, hence, if a person feels guilty about a particular medical operation to be applied to him, it should not be forced unto him as it may ruin his overall consideration on himself and his relation with God which questions his overall service to the supreme being he trusts fully. In relation to this matter, as based from the video presentation viewed, the Jewish affiliation, although it imposes specific guidelines on how medical conditions are to be viewed, should be based on how the member actually views the situation and the issue that he is under. Most of the decisions often lay on how a person understands the sanctions of the religion and how he applies them personally.

Muslims on the other hand are highly principled. Among these principles include the idea where ‘there is no disease that God has created except for those which he also created a cure’; relatively, this principle insists on the idea that when worse comes worse, then it should be clear to medical practitioners and attendees that there is a chance that a Muslim patient could and usually would take the option of leaving the hospital and ‘giving it all to Allah’ (Fletcher, 2001). Even though at some point, some medical practitioners may see this pointless, it is highly important that the patients’ concern for giving their lives in the hands of Allah is a far more important choice than that of the idea of living. Compared to the Jewish denomination, the video presentation attests to the fact that Muslims are more specific when it comes to following the guidelines of Koran especially when it comes to dealing with medical issues and accepting medical treatments when dealing with particularly crucial cases.

The Christian denomination on the other hand has lesser sanctions compared to Muslims and Jewish patients. Nevertheless, there are some groups that pose higher cases of ethical sanctions to medical practitioners at present. Among the most talked about groups are Jehovah’s Witnesses and their strong conviction on the principle of not accepting blood transfusion even during crucial times (Bordy, 2000). Medical practitioners often see this choice idiotic, sometimes even sadistic especially when it comes to letting their loved ones go because of such belief. However, for them, this is a concern that involves their faith and their relationship with God, and somehow, medical agencies around the globe found it necessary to seek information and attention on such issue as Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves are growing in number and many members are seeking medical help, To ease out the tension and the issues, the field of medicine have found alternatives to blood transfusion and this is usually a part of the considerations given to patients belonging to the said religious group.

It the utmost concern of the nurse to help in saving the life of the patient no matter what the situation may be. However, when faith and religion gets in the way, the nurses’ concern should be highly placed on respecting the patients’ or the patients’ families’ consideration on the matter. Their decisions on whether or not to accept medical treatments would depend on them and the nurses ought to follow through. Doing so shall allow them to become more mindful of their ethical position as medical practitioners caring not only for the healthcare needs of the people but also for the ethical integrity that is highly important for each individual patient. This point of learning provides nurses the ideal capacity to seek information about particular patients especially regarding their religion. Giving attention to such concern gives the nurses the chance to lower the tension and ease out the pressure on how doctors are to relate with the patients and how the patients would accept particular medical operations that are to be suggested for their recovery. Gaining proper information regarding each patient’s affiliation shall make it easier for the medical team to come up with proper and more efficient operations and treatments that the patient would gladly accept. Through this, the recovery of the patient could be easily accomplished as desired. Learning from the context of what religion is and what the three religious denominations specifically stand for when it comes to remaining faithful provides an insightful presentation on how they should be treated accordingly. Their beliefs, although they might seem off-the-grid especially concerning the debate between life and faith, must be respected accordingly as these principles and thoughts about life are the very things that make their entire being; going against their will to save their lives is often considered as killing them spiritually, something nurses would rather avoid than insist upon. This constitutes the fact that beyond the role of nurses to provide life-saving treatments to their patients, it is also a part of their role to make sure that the treatments they give the patients would cure the ill individuals as a whole because mind cannot be separated from the body as the person cannot be separated from his faith.

References

Brody, Baruch A. (2000). Life and Death Decision Making. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fletcher, Joseph F. (2001). Morals and Medicine: The Moral Problems of: The Patient’s Right to Know the Truth, Contraception, Artificial Insemination, Sterilization, Euthanasia. Boston: Beacon. Reading Requirement: Monotheistic Religions.