Parish Nurse Schools

As defined in the draft standards of practice published for public comment in 2010 by the Health Ministries Association, parish nursing -- or faith community nursing -- is "a specialized practice of professional nursing that focuses on the intentional care of the spirit as well as on the promotion of wholistic health and prevention or minimization of illness within the context of a faith community." A parish nurse is trained in care of both body and spirit. The specifics of spiritual training will depend on the faith community in which each nurse will serve. The Health Ministries Association's standards call for nursing training at the bachelor's degree level or higher, with specialist training in community-focused nursing.
  1. Standards

    • Any nursing training that meets the standards for registered nurse licensing includes training in spiritual care of patients, but the HMA does not find this training sufficient.

    Specialized Nurse Training

    • In addition to a school of nursing accredited for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hosts the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, which is focused primarily on training doctors, but to which some members of the nursing faculty also contribute.

    Training Programs In Religious Institutions

    • The Nursing Department at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is both generally oriented to the spirituality of the Christian Reformed Church and offers a concentrated program of training for parish/faith community nursing. For example, the course Nursing 380 in the 2010-11 catalog, "Reformed Faith and Nursing: Critical Reflections," promises to "consider how the Reformed Christian worldview informs the metaparadigm of nursing as well as current issues facing the profession."

    Dual and Mixed Courses of Study

    • Azusa Pacific University, in Southern California, offers a post-master's credential in parish nursing as a one-year program in its School of Nursing. Certain courses of this program are open to students in the university's programs for professional ministry through concentrations designed to meet the specific needs of students who may already be ordained clergy or may be preparing for ordained pastorates, whether in health-care settings, in youth and family ministries or women's community ministries.

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