1. A New Paradigm for Health Faith Community Nursing Marcia A. Schnorr, RN, EdD

2. A faith community nurse…  Is a registered nurse with specialized education in the integration of faith and health  Reaches out to people of all ages  Promotes health in individuals, groups, the faith community, and beyond  Follows all applicable nursing laws and standards for practice

3. Continued…  Has a unique blend of expertise in nursing and skills in basic spiritual care  Is in team ministry with the clergy

4. Modern History  Parish Nursing was introduced by Granger Westberg (mid 20 th century) in Chicago  There is an estimated 5000 faith community nurses in the United States  Faith community nurses can be found in various faith communities  A World Forum for Faith Community Nursing has representatives from several countries

5. Global Overview  World Forum: USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Swaziland, Korea, New Zealand…  “Some interest”: Costa Rica, Cuba, Kenya, and others

6. How to Start Faith Community Nursing  Begin with prayer  Establish a “health cabinet”  Educate  Complete a needs assessment  Begin…

7. Potential Faith Community Nurse  Salaried or unsalaried  Part-time or full-time  Institutional or faith community based  Solo or team

8. Essential Traits  Spiritual maturity  Competent  Responsible  Good communicator  Licensed as required by law

9. Roles for Faith Community Nurse  Health educator  Personal health counseling  Liaison with the community  Coordinator of caregiving volunteers  Integration of faith and health

10. Faith community Nursing  Christian  Muslim  Jewish  other

11. Health Ministry  Opportunities for other health care professionals and paraprofessionals  Will need to adjust the scope of ministry to remain within the limits of education and standards for practice

12. Faith Community Nursing Education  Specialized courses offered in short intensive workshops (usually less than a week)  Distance learning options include more content and could be offered in different formats (e.g. on-line, correspondence, other)  Spiritual care component specific to faith community—or generic allowing individual to adapt to own religion.

13. Words of advise…  Continue to pray  Be more concerned with being faithful than with counting numbers  Do not take on too much too soon…but don’t wait too long to do something  Expect frustrations  Expect blessings

14. Faith Community Nursing: A New Paradigm for Health