The Healing Hospital: Serving God and His People

Running head: THE HEALING HOSPITAL

The Healing Hospital: Serving God and His Peopl
Grand Canyon University
Spirituality in Healthcare
HLT 310V
August 28, 2011

The Healing Hospital Paradigm The Healing Hospital paradigm does not only bring love and care back to health care but radical loving care to the bedside. This concept, although seemingly progressive, borrows and puts into action theories of such great theorist as Jean Watson that believe in treating the mind, body, and soul (Watson, 2009). The average hospital mission statement is filled with promises of caring compassionate health care, but as with society today, they are mostly talk and no action. The Healing Hospital brings the talk into action bringing the radical care from the management down, believing that each person has a calling not a job that simply ends in provision. The spiritual aspect is brought back into health care for the patients as well as the staff, where each meeting is considered a sacred encounter. Although this sounds like a hospital made in heaven, it is a reality for such hospitals as Baptist Trust in Nashville, Tennessee and Mercy Gilbert Hospital in Gilbert, Arizona (Chapman, 2007). Mind, Body, and Soul So what are the mind, body and soul? The mind is defined as the part that processes reason, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, and judges the processes of the human brain. It is the totality of the conscious and unconscious thought processes and activities (Dictionary.com, 2011). The body is the physical being that can be seen with the naked eye. This brings us to the question of: what is a soul? According to the dictionary the soul is “the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body and the mind; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part. Also believed to survive death and be subject to happiness or misery in the life after death: assuming the immortality of the soul [ (Dictionary.com, 2011) ]. Jean Watson describes the human being as: “a valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood and assisted; in general a philosophical view of a person as a fully functional integrated self. A human that is viewed as greater than and different from, the sum of his or her parts” [ (Watson, 2009) ].
Patient’s Perspective From the patient’s perspective, the Healing Hospital incorporates the body, mind, and spirituality into healing. To heal is a verb that means to make healthy, whole, or sound; restore to health; free from ailment; to free from evil; cleanse purify; to heal the soul (dictionary.com, 2011). Spirituality is confused with religion. A person can be spiritual and not necessarily be associated with a religion, as well as a religious person may lack spirituality. Someone once said that spirituality is what’s left when religion is set aside. Patients and their families are treated with respect and are treated as a whole person with love and compassion, regardless of their religion or spiritual beliefs.
Employee’s Perspective The dream job for a health care provider is working in a hospital where the morale is high; there is a low turnover, job satisfaction, and a loving-caring environment from management as well as fellow employees. Employees should feel like a valued part of a team not just their last four digits of their social security number. Many hospitals today create an environment where the doctors are valued above others at everyone’s expense including the patients. Job satisfaction for a nurse is being able to give the care that they feel their patients deserve. The healing hospital offers all of the above as well as allows employees to treat the patients as a whole person without repercussion.

Hospital’s Perspective Healing Hospitals look for employees who believe that their job is a calling. They look for those that have a servant’s heart. Employees that have a high fire and a high light, meaning they have a good balance of values and integrity combined with great performance [ (Chapman, 2007) ]. Chapman believes that great employees attract other great employees and that hospitals should do all they can to keep those diamonds in the rough. The hospital creates a loving and caring culture in the hospital itself from the management down.
The Call The “call” is the belief that when you leave your home and you’re your family it should be in service to God or nothing at all. If a person comes to work with the intention of making money as the goal, they will never be satisfied. When money is the goal, it is like feeding an insatiable monster , they will never make enough money and will increase their chances for burnout. When an employee believes that they are serving God by serving His people, they realize that each person that is put in their path is a sacred encounter. An example is when an Intensive Care nurse is sent to the telemetry floor. If that nurse complains and becomes angry he or she misses the chance to minister to the patients God has sent them to. To believe that a nursing supervisor has anything to do with where a nurse is sent is looking through their own eyes and not the eyes of the master planner. Believing in sacred encounters allows employees to leave their job knowing why they were there for their shift. Sometimes they minister to the patients, other times it is for fellow co-workers and sometimes it is for others to minister to them. Believing in the “call” helps employees to stay focused on the real reasons they are there with the added side effect of less burnout.

Servant’s Heart The Healing Hospital encourages a servant’s heart. Jesus is the perfect example. John 13: 12-17 tells the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, “ So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” [ (Bible Gateway) ]. The example that Jesus gave us is the perfect example of a servant’s heart. He commands us to serve each other as He served us. “And now these three remain faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love” (1st Corinthians 13:13, bible gateway.com) The Healing Hospitals have found the formula for success in health care. Employees that believe they have a calling to serve God by serving His people, healing them with the love and compassion with each sacred encounter.

Works Cited
Bible Gateway. (n.d.). Passage Lookup. Retrieved May 11, 2011, from Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/
Chapman, E. (2007). Radical loving care: Building the healing hospital in America. Nashville, Tennesse, USA: Vaughn Printing.
Dictionary.com. (2011). Define Healing at Dictionary.com. Retrieved August 28, 2011, from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/healing
Watson, J. (2009). Watson caring science institute international caritas consortium. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from Watson Caring Science Institute International Caritas Consortium: http://www.watsoncaringscience.org/

Resource 1: Healing Hospital Grading Rubric * Expectations | Does Not Approach Expectations (1-59%) | Approaches Expectations(60% - 69%) | Meets Expectations(70% - 79%) | Exceeds Expectations(80% - 89%) | Outstanding(90% - 100%) | Points Earned | 80% Competency (Content and Comprehension):_________% 9.6 point(s) possible | Reveals inaccurate comprehension of material and lacks the ability to apply information. | Displays a lack of comprehension but attempts to apply information. Presentation of material does not meet minimal requirements of the assignment. Demonstrates no critical thinking aspects. | Exhibits comprehension of the material and attempts to integrate it with outside material. Information represents basic thought and formulation of healing hospital concepts, values, and practices. | Demonstrates integrative comprehension. Student exhibits thorough and thoughtful processing of material. Evidentiary support is creatively interwoven and presented in a manner that supports the writer’s position and perspective on Healing Hospital concepts and patterns. | Demonstrates integrative comprehension and thoughtful application of concepts surrounding the Healing Hospital and circumstances involving application in real world situations. Presentation of material and components include expanded and unique perspective relative to Healing Hospital patterns and value. | | | Subject matter is absent, inappropriate, and/or irrelevant | There is weak, marginal coverage of subject matter with large gaps in presentation. | All subject matter is covered in minimal quantity and quality. | Comprehensive coverage of subject matter is evident. | Coverage extends beyond what is needed to support subject matter. | | Feedback to student | | 10% Competency (Organization and Format):_______% 1.2 point(s) possible | Does not follow directions. Inappropriate quantity and quality of work. | Partially follows directions; task is not completed as assigned. | Follows directions and adequately meets guidelines for length and complexity. | Follows directions and more than adequately completes the assignment. | Follows directions and resonates quality in the completeness of the assignment. | | | Demonstrates superficial thinking and poor research. Insufficient quality of work. | Shows little effort at critical thinking or merely repeats what has been presented in others’ work. | Demonstrates preparation and critical thinking. Follows APA guidelines. | Reveals thoughtful expression of personal critical thinking. Follows APA guidelines. | Assignment is a well-crafted demonstration of deep critical thinking that follows APA guidelines. | | | Plagiarism; rarely follows any documentation format correctly; uses non-credible sources. | Uses documentation, but frequent formatting/citation errors are present; some sources have questionable credibility. | Sources used are credible and documented; formatting/citation is usually correct. | Documentation is appropriate and formatting/citation is correct (a few errors/typos may be present); most sources are authoritative. | There are no errors in documentation format or citation; all sources are authoritative. | | | Paragraphs and transitions consistently lack unity and coherence. Organization is disjointed. | Some paragraphs and transitions may lack logical progression of ideas, unity, coherence, and/or cohesiveness. Some degree of organization is evident. | Paragraphs are generally competent, but ideas may show some inconsistency in organization and/or in their relationship to each other. | Paragraphs exhibit unity, coherence, and cohesiveness. Topic sentences and concluding remarks are used appropriately. | There is a sophisticated construction of paragraphs and transitions. Individually and collectively, paragraphs are coherent and cohesive—they “sparkle.” | | Feedback to student | | 10 % Competency (Writing Skills): (e.g., spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, word choice)________% 1.2 point(s) possible | Surface errors are pervasive enough that they impede communication of meaning. | Assignment includes frequent and repetitive mechanical errors that distract the reader. | Some mechanical errors or typos are present, but are not overly distracting to the reader. | Document is largely free of mechanical errors, although a few may be present. | Writer is clearly in control of standard, written American English. No errors present. | | | There exists inappropriate word choice and/or sentence structure, as well as a lack of variety in language use. Author is unaware of audience. | Some distracting and/or inconsistencies in language choice, sentence structure, and/or word choice are present. | Sentence structure is correct and occasionally varies. Word choice and language are appropriate to the targeted audience. | Author is clearly aware of audience, and uses a variety of sentence structures, appropriate vocabulary, and figures of speech to communicate clearly. | Uses a variety of sentence constructions, figures of speech, and word choices in unique and creative ways that are appropriate to purpose, discipline, and scope. | | Feedback to student | | | Total Score | * © 2009 Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.

Cited: Bible Gateway. (n.d.). Passage Lookup. Retrieved May 11, 2011, from Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/ Chapman, E Dictionary.com. (2011). Define Healing at Dictionary.com. Retrieved August 28, 2011, from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/healing Watson, J