Hospital Paradigm the Healing Hospital

Hospital Paradigm

The Healing Hospital Paradigm: Faith and Compassion

Faith, hope and emotional support are all key predictors of health outcomes. In addition to treatment, these features help provide the patient with the will and psychological fortitude to face illness, pain or disability. Likewise, these are conditions which are inspired by the Baptist denomination of the Christian faith. It is thus that the notion of the Healing Hospital is given its basis as a facility where all of these forces converge. Indeed, in establishing an effective paradigm for the healing hospital, we proceed from the understanding that the compassion and humaneness that are inspired by the scriptures are likewise empirically connected to the science of medical treatment and healthcare provision.

Components of a Healing Hospital:

Accordingly, research on the subject indicates that the healing hospital is distinguished by its essentially charitable nature. Therefore, this key component influences the type of healthcare worker who is likely to thrive in such a setting. Chapman (2003) reports that the traditional approach of the physician or nurse toward a patient as a set of symptoms or even more simply as a customer is out of step with the realities at a healing hospital. Here, the physician is expected to view the patient as a human being in need of care rather than as a customer in need of service. (Chapman, p. 6) Accordingly, Chapman agues that the determinant component in a healing hospital is the capacity of the healthcare worker to treat with a 'servant's heart.' Based on the premise that we are all servant's to the will of God, the treatment of individuals cast in the image of God should reflect a humble and loving impetus. As Chapman states though, there are key administrative changes which must be made at the organizational level if practitioners are to be entitled to view their practice thusly instead of simply as a function of business. As Chapman indicates, "the healing approach is about core change in the culture of hospital organizations. if, together, we begin this work today, our brothers and sisters lying in hospitals across America will begin to experience the kind of care we should all receive." (p. 8)

This very idea that all patients should be looked upon as our 'brothers and sisters' helps to highlight the emphasis on our shared humanity which drives the philosophy of the healing hospital. This is to suggest that the defining component of such a facility is actually found at the interpersonal level of interaction between caregivers, hospital administrators and patients.

Challenges to Creating a Healing Environment:

The notion of a healing hospital is highly correlated to the principles of faith and compassion, but this notion must also be reconciled with many of the more concrete and sometimes obfuscating conditions of modern medicine. Among these, the healing hospital must often navigate through the economic, bureaucratic and legal standards that ensconce the field of healthcare. The Baptist Healing Trust, and organization that has worked to forge charitable healing hospital facilities for nearly a century, indicates that the practitioner in such a context must find personal balance between the qualities of compassion and the concrete demands of the occupation. The Trust reports that "we recognize that the work of providing care and serving others daily can be exhausting and challenging work. And we understand that regulations and rules can all too easily dominate the landscape. Standards of care are important, and those we serve expect no less than the best. We believe that the best care is the delivery of care that exceeds all expectation and that is encircled by compassion." (Baptist Healing Trust, 1)

In terms of besting these challenges, the healing hospital must work to protect the morale of its personnel against the pressures that are inherent with the occupation. This means ensuring that personnel are giving the proper opportunities to rest, that facilities are adequately staffed and that the necessary resources are availed so that personnel can perform to the fullest of their abilities. This denotes that the healing hospital's capacity to meet its ambitions will be highly contingent upon its dexterity at managing the needs of healthcare workers just as it will be contingent upon its management of the patient needs.

Scriptural Support:

The Gospels of Mark and Luke are particularly rich in allusion to the power which Jesus possessed to heal the sick. Here, the miracles which Jesus performed are celebrated as they relate to his ability to bring wellness to the men, women and children around him. In a symbolic sense, we can come to appreciate here the implications of the love and compassion at the center of the Chapman text. Indeed, these are the qualities which are found within Jesus and which bring relief to those whom he encountered. According to Mark 6:5, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them."

The manner in which this is phrased may suggest to us that the healing of the sick is less miraculous than it is simply the duty of man to his fellow. This correlates to the principles of the healing hospital by suggesting that the loving kindness of Jesus between transposed into the hands of medical professionals. The Gospel of Luke speaks of these miracles as well. In Luke 4:40 it is told that 'At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them." Perhaps most important a nuance to be taken from this sentiment is that which distinguishes the attention that Jesus gives to "each one." Here, healing if a function of the individual attention and personal devotion which the healer affords to every sick and enfeebled person.