Oh my God. Literally.

[mobey]

I do love playing devils advocate!

How can you be so sure that what she is doing is not totally right?

You assume some day she will make an ass of herself, yet we do that all the time with things like toilet paper stuck to the shoe, buttons done up wong... etc etc.

I am personally extremely uncomfortable around these pushy religious types. I find it very hard to carry on a conversation with someone who has a glazed over look in thier eyes, and a painted on indefinite smile, telling me how great everything is because it is god's plan. I am actually embarrased to be around them. But I will tell you right now it is because I think they are full of shit, and wasting thier lives with this "wait and see" attitude.

Does that mean they are wrong? No

Does that give me the right to interviene? No

I think if you feel she hurts your profession, then you should take steps to influence her. But I gotta say, my partner is an alternate-minister for his church, and alot of patients buy into having a prayer and a blessing on a call, especially for the family when a loved one is obvioustly on death's door.

An EMT I used to work with used hypnotism with patients to treat thier pain/nausea/anxiety during interfacility-transfers. Again.... I don't buy it, but hey, if it works for some and does not hurt any, than why not?

[DFIB]

This person has made statements in the past of looking forward to providing ministry through medical care to BRING OTHERS TO CHRIST.

This is not that odd. There are thousands of the most professional providers in the world that participate in medical ministries. Most of them provide their skills for free. Some of the patients make a spiritual decision, all of them receive quality care.

[Eydawn]

Appropriate in a dedicated medical ministry, not appropriate in our primary healthcare settings here in North America, especially in my geographical region. If/when this individual gets to go do medical based ministry in foreign/underprivileged areas, they will have that prerogative... in a normal employment setting, very good way to get sued.

If they want to pray with a patient who asks for it, I see no problem.

If they want to pray for a patient who didn't ask for it, on their own time, such as on their break or a short hop off the floor, I see no problem.

If they explicitly tell a patient who hasn't asked for spiritual support or who has declined offers of spiritual counsel (chaplain/other visit) that they will be praying for them, that isn't professional nor respectful of the patient.

See where I'm coming from with this?

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Kiwiology]

I agree with Wendy; it's not appropriate for a healthcare professional to impart their own beliefs onto their patients; these super religious types are great for doing this and shoving God so far down your throat he comes out your arse; my uncle used to do this until he flipped out saying God was somehow hooked up in his plan to waste his dentist ... next minute, nut house.

Now, lets say for example I think sticking a hot poker up my dick is the cure all - it's not appropriate for me to go spouting it left right and centre to patients. It doesn't matter what it is, there is a clear professional/ personal boundary that one must understand and clearly this person does not; not surprising it's coming from a super religious home-school (read: somewhat socially isolated) person.

Oh, and I don't think sticking a hot poker up my dick is a very good idea .... ouch man, sounds like something Dwayne might do (taking the piss)

Edited February 3, 2012 by kiwimedic

[DFIB]

Kiwi. you make me chuckle on the dreariest of days.

Wendy. I don't think we are in disagreement. I think that a key element is precisely that ministry based medical care is well advertised and users know what they are in for.

The discussion really doesn't have to be a discussion about any particular topic, religion or otherwise. It simply has to be regarded an invasion of privacy or a crossing of boundaries to be considered inappropriate.

When I pay a DR., nurse, mechanic, etc, for his time and expertise I want to talk about topics of my interest, because I am the client. Patrons are paying for a service, not to be chatted up.

[Richard B the EMT]

I wish I could recall for documentation, but I read somewhere, a "Doctors Without Borders" type organization MD in a back woods area of a "3rd World" country, once tried using a local "religious healer" by indicating that the healers "prayer magic" was strong, the MDs medical "magic" was strong, and they should combine their "magics" to assist the villagers, as the combined "magic" would be stronger than either of them working separately.

I emphasize that the MD was with the type organization, as I am unable to document, I will NOT state the physician was with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.