Religion and Practitioner Change Care Essay

Will the expectation of care vary based on the faith base of the patient involved? How can the practitioner change care practice based on the faith of the patient? Give an example MacKinlay (2006) as cited by Barber (2012) suggest that religion is an organized system of beliefs, practices, and rituals designed to facilitate closeness to the sacred through the understanding of one’s relationship and responsibility to others living together in a community. Therefore, in performing our duties as healthcare providers, we encounter patients of different faith and religious background. In my opinion, I do think that the expectation of care should vary based on the faith of the patient. Health care practitioners should plan their care with special consideration to patients’ spiritual or religious rituals because it is important to involved the patients, families, and caregivers in their plan of care. Also, it will increase patient compliance with their medical care. For example, in the facility where I work, every new admission has to fill out their religious beliefs this will enable the facility make adequate provision to accommodate them. On the average we have two major groups of believers: the Muslims and the Christians. For the Muslim patients we incorporate their plan of care into their Ramadan activities in such a way that they get all their treatment and medications before the start of fasting; we also respect their prayer time. Also, female nursing/medical team care for the female patients since Muslim women prefers female provider because they are more comfortable with them. As for the Christians, they usually have their church programs every Wednesdays and Sundays and as such we plan their care in such a way that it does not interfere with their prayer times or church activities. Reference Barber, C. (2012). Spirituality and religion: a brief definition. British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 6(8), 378-381.