Faith Community Nursing is a new specialty recognized by the American Nurses Association and formerly known as Parish Nursing. However, to be inclusive of all faith traditions, the new name has taken precedence. The course is now offered by The Benjamín León School of Nursing at Miami Dade College, as an elective in the BSN program, to nurses who are already RNs and have returned to school to obtain their BSN.Faith Community Nursing as a specialty practice combines professional nursing care and health ministry for the integration of mind, body, and spirit. The Faith Community Nurse (FCN) performs care according to the Nurse Practice Act of the State in which the FCN practices, and also within the Faith Community Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice. To prepare the student to effectively integrate this specialized care, the curriculum covers four core concepts, divided into four modules, to form a framework for this required content.
The first of the four concepts is the Spiritual dimension, where the nurse learns to assess and identify the spiritual needs of the clients. However, at first the nurse learns to assess and to develop his/her spirituality, in order to better meet the spiritual needs of the client or the congregation. In this module, faith and belief of the various cultures, and the need for meaning and fulfillment in life is explored. In doing so, the nurse is better equipped to meet the needs of our multi-cultural community.
The Professional module speaks to areas in which the FCN practices. These areas cover professional behaviors such as communication, collaboration, documentation, and ethical and legal concerns as addressed within the Faith Community Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice with interpretive statements; which also concurs with the ANA Scope and Standards of Practice.
Wholistic Health is another module in the curriculum which promotes harmony as a foundation for wholism, health, and healing. This module covers concepts of health promotion, education principles, and teaching/learning principles across the lifespan, and issues on family violence, suffering, grief, and loss.
The final module covers Community which prepares the nurse for interaction with the community as a referral agent; for accessing resources; and for collaboration with the community to meet the needs of the clients or faith community. These communities may include other faith communities, the nursing community, geographic community and, global or demographic communities.
The Spiritual dimension is the central core in interacting with all these communities and the concepts of wholistic care and professionalism. Therefore, the ultimate goal of Faith Community Nursing is to provide wholistic care to the mind, body and spirit of the client.
The mission of the FCN is to challenge the nursing profession to reclaim the spiritual dimension of nursing care; to challenge the health care system to provide whole person care; and to challenge the faith community to revitalize its healing mission.
