Provide a comparative analysis of the different belief systems, reinforcing major themes with insights gained from your research.
In this world there are different religions and beliefs. Different people of different religions have different faiths and the concept of spiritually differs not only on the basis of different philosophical aspects of different religions, but also it varies from person to person. Even in this technologically updated modern world, the religious and spiritual faith and practices are more significant in many patients’ life. But the health care providers like doctors, nurse, physicians or residents, the medical students may be unknown from proper implementation of this practice in healing process. In case of some critical cases where medical treatment fails; the spiritual treatment may be fruitful for the patients by providing them mental peace and optimism views to recovery. Since, illness not only affects the body but also the mind, in one word the spiritual treatment in health facility work as ‘Hope’. So it is very important for them to acquired knowledge about different spiritual treatment beside the medical treatment. The main aim of this paper is to discuss about the need of spirituality in health care facility and focus on the health care philosophy of two main religions of the world, – one is the Christian philosophy of healthcare and other is the Buddhist philosophy of health care and also draws a relevant comparison between these two.
In present era of globalization there are many patients from different countries and religions under the health care facilities. Not only the patients but also the health care providers are from different belief, culture and languages. Despite of these diversities, the main aim of all the health care providers are united regarding their aims and principles toward healthcare facilities. They always try to provide the best care to their patients (McSherry, McSherry & Watson, 2012). An ideal health care provider should sensitive to his/her patients’ needs and based on his/her own perspective he/she should facilitate the healing to the patients. Even in the modern world faith and spirituality play a significant role in health care facilities and to patients they are very important (Barker & Board, 2012).
According to different religion and different philosophers, faith can be defined in many ways, such as:-
Keeping faith with one means the loyalty to a person or thing.
Faith is a kind of belief and non-material evidence which cannot be logically proven.
By faith one can confidently belief on the true and value.
According to Muslim religion, faith is the body of dogma of a religion.
In case of Christianity, faith is defined under the theological virtue.
According to this theological virtue, a secure belief or trust on God and acceptance of God’s will is the faith of Christianity (Davies, Crisp & D’Costa, 2012).
But since spirituality is a type of human experience, it is very difficult to define the term. Even in the same faith or believe it may be differed to different human beings depending on their psychology and moral values. Focusing on the medical dictionary it can be stated that the spiritual healing can be done with the use of spiritual practices. For example, for the improvement or recovery of ill patients prayer can be made by the health providers. Hence, it can be inferred that we cannot separate the two concepts of faith and spirituality in case of individual’s cure (Nordtug, 2014). The practices of both the concepts i.e. faith and spirituality play a crucial role in the health care setting to improve the well-being of the people. According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare (JCHAO), while providing the medical treatment, the patient’s culture and beliefs should be taken under the consideration by the health providers, as patient’s cultural values, faith and spirituality can affect the patient’s well-being (Cobb, Puchalski & Rumbold, 2012).
In case of health care facilities, the healing process is very important for patients’ well-being. The implementation of appropriate healing process can only be done when the physical, religious and spiritual needs of the patients can be meet by the health providers. There may exist non-similarity between the patient and the health service provider regarding their culture and faith, but still the patient can occasionally ask the health care providers such as doctors and nurses to pry for his or her recovery from illness as the patient is very much emotionally attached with the spiritual practices (Lange, 2012). And it is the duty of the healthcare providers to help their patients in this regard. Hence, it is necessary for the healthcare providers to know the basic essence of all religions as a part of the healing process. Most of the religions believe on the on the supreme power of God. The religions like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam focus on the final dwelling place and believe on the hell and paradise. These three major religions also believe on the three different phase of human life, like life, death and resurrection. The religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Baha’ism are less known in healing practice of health care facility, though they have the same values and beliefs like other famous religions (Baum, Revenson & Singer, 2012).
The Christian philosophy believes on the spirituality or the power of just one god i.e. the Jesus Christ who is merciful and will heal every human-being from their sufferings and these sufferings generated from the sins done by the human beings. According to the Christian philosophy the sickness or illness occurs as a result of disharmony between mind and matter. A patient can be healed when he/she is drawn closer to God through experiencing the moral and spiritual changes. For healing of the patients, prayers and sacraments should be practiced in a daily basis by the health service providers. Though this practice is not completely opposite to the medical practice, but often focuses more on spirituality rather than practical medical treatment (Moss & Moss, 2012). But one of the significant aspect of this philosophy is the Christian religion always respect the values of other religions and also respect the wish of patient’s family. That is why in the Christian health care providers always clarify to the patient’s family that what kind of medical or psychological treatment they are providing the patient (Juth & Munthe, 2012).
Lord Buddha was born in northern India around 2600 years ago. The Buddhism teaches that how that human-being can overcome the sufferings of real world only by living an unmaterialistic life. There are three principles of this teaching. These are: – do good, do no harm and meditate (‘Rethinking the Buddha: early Buddhist philosophy as meditative perception’, 2015). According to Buddhism illness is the result of Karma or sin. That means, illness is the consequences of actions of the doings of previous life. Since health is a holistic thing act as the connector between body and minds, rather than physical cure, mental cure is more important. The recovery or healing from all sufferings can only be made through achieving the spiritual peace and free from the anxiety. But the most important aspect of this philosophy is it does not believe that healing can be made through faith or prayers and there are no restrictions on surgical procedure, blood and organ donation, autopsy etc. It highly believe on the practice of meditation and the medication is acceptable until it affect the state of mind (Potash, Chan & Kalmanowitz, 2012).
Comparing the spiritual treatment of healthcare under Christianity with Buddhism, it can be observed that both the religions focus on attaining the healing from suffers. In case of health care treatment, where Christians create the confidence among the patients to overcome their illness through prayers (i.e. God will heal the patients), Buddhists create this confidence through the meditation which plays a significant role in individual’s curing process. The administration of medical care is the key difference between these two religions. Lord Buddha is the founder of Yoga. According to the Buddhist, a patient can be recovered from his/her undergoing suffering through achieving the self confidence and optimistic view by continuous practices of yoga or meditation. But, this yoga or meditation is not practiced under Christianity (Fortinash & Holoday-Worret, 2012).
Conclusion:-
The spirituality in healthcare should be regarded as a special treatment for the patients and it is so significant to the patient that it should not be judged or miscalculated. The patients of different beliefs, cultures and nationalities are healed by the health care providers. The believe of the health care providers may be similar or different from the patients’ belief, But, the health care providers should fulfill the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient. The patients should be treated with proper respect, love, dignity and compassion to recover from the sickness. Even they can bear their illness with these special qualities of love, respect, dignity and compassion. A healthcare provider should not forcefully impose his/her faith or belief on the patients, particularly at the critical position of their life. Every spiritual belief of health care facility should be enriched with love, ethics and human morals. While dealing with the patients, the healing concept should be embraced by the health care providers whatever their own concept may be. A healthcare organization can only be termed as a spiritual place only these ethics and practices will generally enacted and embraced among them.
References
Barker, S., & Board, M. (2012). Dementia care in nursing. London: Learning Matters.
Baum, A., Revenson, T., & Singer, J. (2012). Handbook of health psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
Cobb, M., Puchalski, C., & Rumbold, B. (2012). Oxford textbook of spirituality in healthcare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Davies, M., Crisp, O., & D’Costa, G. (2012). Christianity and the Disciplines. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Fortinash, K., & Holoday-Worret, P. (2012). Psychiatric mental health nursing. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
Juth, N., & Munthe, C. (2012). The ethics of screening in health care and medicine. Dordrecht: Springer.
Lange, J. (2012). The nurse’s role in promoting optimal health of older adults. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Co.
McSherry, W., McSherry, R., & Watson, R. (2012). Care in nursing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moss, B., & Moss, B. (2012). Communication skills in health and social care. London: SAGE.
Nordtug, B. (2014). Levinas’s ethics as a basis of healthcare – challenges and dilemmas. Nursing Philosophy,16(1), 51-63. doi:10.1111/nup.12072
Potash, J., Chan, S., & Kalmanowitz, D. (2012). Art Therapy in Asia. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Rethinking the Buddha: early Buddhist philosophy as meditative perception. (2015). Choice Reviews Online,52(09), 52-4719-52-4719. doi:10.5860/choice.188761
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