Assignment: Healing Hospital

Assignment: Healing Hospital

Assignment: Healing Hospital

Consider how the paradigm of a healing hospital might influence your philosophy of caregiving and write an essay of 500-750 words that addresses the following:

1. Describe the components of a healing hospital and their relationship to spirituality.
2. What are the challenges of creating a healing environment in light of the barriers and complexities of the hospital environment?
3. Include biblical aspects that support the concept of a healing hospital.

   During the Crimean War and American Civil War, nurses were extremely effective in providing treatment and comfort not only to battlefield casualties but also to individuals who fell victim to accidents and infectious disease; however, it was in the North-West Rebellion of 1885 that Canadian nurses performed military service for the first time. At first, the nursing needs identified were for such duties as making bandages and preparing supplies. It soon became apparent that more direct participation by nurses was needed if the military was to provide effective medical field treatment. Seven nurses, under the direction of Reverend Mother Hannah Grier Coome, served in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Although their tour of duty lasted only 4 weeks, these women proved that nursing could, and should in the future, play a vital role in providing treatment to wounded soldiers. In 1899, the Canadian Army Medical Department was formed, followed by the creation of the

   Canadian Army Nursing Service. Nurses received the relative rank, pay, and allowances of an army lieutenant. Nursing sisters served thereafter in every military force sent out from Canada, from the South African War to the Korean War (Veterans Affairs Canada, n.d.). In 1896, Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, wife of the governor-general of Canada, visited Vancouver. During this visit, she heard vivid accounts of the hardship and illness affecting women and children in rural areas. Later that same year at the National Council of Women, amid similar stories, a resolution was passed asking Lady Aberdeen to found an order of visiting nurses in Canada. The order was to be a memorial to the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s ascent to the throne of the British Empire; it received a royal charter in 1897. The first Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) sites were organized in the cities of Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver, and Kingston. Today the VON delivers over 75 different programs and services, such as prenatal education, mental health services, palliative care services, and visiting nursing, through 52 local sites staffed by 4,500 healthcare workers and over 9,016 volunteers (VON, n.d.).

   By the mid- to late 19th century, despite previous negativity, nursing came to be viewed as necessary to progressive medical interventions. To make the work of the nurse acceptable, changes had to be made to the prevailing view of nursing. In the 1870s, the ideas of Florence Nightingale were introduced in Canada. Dr. Theophilus Mack imported nurses who had worked with Nightingale and founded the first training school for nurses in Canada at St. Catharine’s General Hospital in 1873. Many hospitals appeared across Canada from 1890 to 1910, and many of them developed training schools for nurses. By 1909, there were 70 hospital-based training schools in Canada (Mansell, 2004).