PART A: Choose 2 key insights or themes you are taking away for your own practice of healthcare regarding how to care for the spiritual aspect of the human person. For each of these themes, name the theme, and provide support from our readings and/or videos that helps you substantiate what each theme means. Finally, explain why you have chosen these themes, in terms of why these themes seem especially important to you and your particular work in healthcare.
For example: You might discuss the meaning of holistic healing & the insights you have gained about this from our course. Or, you may want to discuss healthcare as a vocation where one is called to be “standing on holy ground,” as opposed to merely getting a decent paying job. You might also choose to discuss the significance of attentiveness to the patients spiritual and religious needs as part of the general, overall approach to healing and why this is important based upon the various life situations discussed in our textbook Spirituality in Nursing. You could also choose to discuss the importance of being in touch with one’s own spirituality, as a pre-requisite for providing good spiritual care to patients – and what you personally have come to see about that in your own life from our course. Another suggestion would be the role of spiritual care in helping patients deal with suffering. And, as a final suggestion, you could discuss the role of prayer and how you might support patients in their practice of prayer. These are mere suggestions. You may choose anything that fits the general topic to be discussed in Part A.
PART B: What it means to do healthcare in a transcultural environment & taking a deeper look at how to provide healthcare to persons, who claim specific cultural & religious heritages as their own.
Choose 1 specific religious and cultural heritage, studied in our course, which particularly interested you. Using the material in our course textbook, A Guide to Culturally Competent Health Care, along with relevant unit videos, summarize the key elements that should be considered when providing healthcare to persons belonging to this specific spiritual and cultural heritage. You may include examples from the text and/or your own personal or professional experience to illustrate and support your points.
PART C: This final part of your final assignment gives you a chance to assess what you have gained for your work in healthcare from our course. Write a substantial paragraph in which you answer the following question:
How do you think this course will help you, professionally, in your understanding of your patients — and in your overall work as a healthcare professional?
