Full Description
Nursing is a vocation: a calling from God to care for others. The role of the nurse originally grew out of a holistic Christian understanding of humans as created in the image of God. Yet as nursing and healthcare continue to change, the effects have proven disorienting to many. Now more than ever, we need nurses who are committed both to a solid understanding of their profession and to caring well for patients and their families.
For over twenty years, Called to Care has served as a unique and essential resource for nurses. In this third edition Judith Allen Shelly and Arlene B. Miller, now joined by coauthor Kimberly H. Fenstermacher, present a definition for nursing based on a historically and theologically grounded vision of the nurse's call:
Nursing is a ministry of compassionate and restorative care for the whole person, in response to God's grace, which aims to promote and foster optimum health (shalom) and bring comfort in suffering and death for anyone in need.
Focusing on the features of the nursing metaparadigm—person, health, environment, and nursing—they provide a framework for understanding how the Christian faith relates to the many aspects of a nurse's work, from theory to everyday practice.
This new edition of Called to Care is thoroughly revised for today's nurses, including updated examples and new content on topics such as cultural competency, palliative care, and the current state of healthcare and nursing education. Each chapter features learning objectives, discussion questions, case studies, and theological reflections from Scripture to help readers engage and apply the content. For educators, students, and practitioners throughout the field of nursing, this classic text continues to provide clarity and wisdom for living out their calling.
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface
Part One: Nursing—The Call to Care
1. Caring and the Christian Story
2. Revolution in the Nursing Paradigm
3. A Christian Vision for Nursing
Part Two: The Person—Caring in Relationship
4. What Does It Mean to Be Human?
5. The Person as a Spiritual Being
6. The Person as a Cultural Being
Part Three: The Environment—Context for Care
7. The Seen Environment
8. The Unseen Environment
9. A Storied Environment
Part Four: Health—Outcomes of Care
10. Working Toward Shalom
11. Hope in Suffering
12. The Paradox of Death
Part Five: Nursing—Practice of Care
13. Nursing as Christian Caring
14. Spiritual Care
15. Looking to the Future
Appendix: Guidelines for Evaluating Alternative Therapies
Index
