Parish Nursing

Home Parish Nursing Model Overview

Parish nurses are Registered Nurses who are trained to promote holistic health within a church community by facilitated the physical, emotional and spiritual healing of congregational members. The parish nurse also seeks to teach members of the congregation about health as it relates to lifestyle, diet, exercise, relationships, faith and general well being. Example of activities that could be undertaken by the parish nurse: A health column in the church newsletter, coffee hour blood pressure checks, wellness fairs, baby-sitting training, home and hospital visiting programs, caregivers respite, monthly healing services, a walking fitness group, smoking cessation course, meditation class, �heart smart� supper, financial management counselling, telephone �buddy� ministry, presentation to women�s group on breast cancer, bereavement support group, health-related books and videos in the church library.

While parish nurses are concerned with primary health care (health promotion and disease prevention), they are focused on the holistic health of the entire person. They include the body, mind, and spirit. While there is little consensus on the term �spiritual care,� parish nurses agree that providing spiritual care is an essential part of what they do. They also report a connectedness between themselves, other persons and the Divine. Parish nurses are acutely sensitive to the suffering of others and believe that compassion is an important component of care. They also believe that there is a relationship between faith and health. These components of theocentric interconnecting are important to include in a theoretical framework for parish nursing practice. The person is viewed as a social/spiritual, physical/spiritual, psychological/spiritual, and familial/spiritual being. The spiritual does not take on a domain separate from the physical, the psychological, etc., but is fluid, and part of the whole person.


More information can be found on Parish Nursing Models at Wellness Works.