The experience of starting a parish nurse or health care ministry program

Abstract

The practice of parish nursing is a reappearance of the nursing of Florence Nightingale's time. Parish nurse or health care ministry programs focus on the physical, emotional and spiritual aspect of a person and the interconnectedness of those aspects. Nurses practicing as parish nurses or health care ministers are entering a place of employment, the church, which is new and uncommon territory for nurses. In this phenomenological study, four nurses who have or are in the process of establishing a parish nurse or heath care ministry program were interviewed. They shared the lived experience of establishing this type of nursing ministry program. They identified aspects of the process that were exciting, rewarding and spiritually fulfilling. They also shared those aspects of the process that were discouraging, disheartening and frustrating. The themes which emerged included: the need for special educational preparation to function as a parish nurse; the spirituality that is part of the parish nurse role; the importance of support for the ministry from various people within and outside the church; the significance of water; the parish nurses expectations regarding the ministry; the perceived value of the ministry and of the parish nurse; the feelings experienced by the parish nurse, moments of joy and stumbling blocks or roadblocks. Findings and implications for practice and research are discussed.