Is there Traffic in your Backyard?

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. As nurses, how do we recognize victims of this injustice? And what can we do for them?

Nita Belles unpacks the issues in the article, Helping Human Trafficking Victims in our Backyard. “Sadly, health workers have not been trained to recognize the red flags that indicate when a patient is a victim of human trafficking,” Nita says.

“It is possible one nurse may be the only trusted individual who can connect a victim with desperately needed help,” Nita writes. “Trust is key to empowering the trafficking victim to reach for freedom. Nurses are especially skilled at building trust.”

JCN Editor Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner adds, “I encourage you to read her moving exposé and realize the opportunity we have as nurses to be a part of rescuing trafficking victims.” See Kathy’s companion editorial, In My Backyard.

Read more of this free JCN article from the new Journal of Christian Nursing, January – March 2012. Join NCF and receive JCN regularly as a member benefit — or subscribe to JCN

Bible Studies Examine What’s Vital

Four new Bible studies for nursing students are now available online. The NCF series, “What’s Vital?” has expanded to eight studies covering topics that integrate faith, nursing and spiritual care.

“An NCF faculty advisor called me and asked for Bible studies for her nursing students,” said Bonnie Hann, NCF Campus Liaison. “She wanted all of her students to learn how following Jesus relates to what they are learning in nursing school.”

After this request, Bonnie created eight Bible studies around issues important to nursing students. They are designed for individuals or for group discussion. Check out these new NCF Bible studies:

• Stress in the Life of a Nursing Student: A look at how Jesus handled stress and what we can learn from his example in Mark 1.
• Need a Break? A glimpse of how God met the needs of a burned-out prophet helps us trust God for our needs and the needs of our patients.
• Compassion Fatigue: The book of Philippians offers ideas for how caregivers can keep a healthy balance and prevent burnout.
• Thirsty No More: Insights from John 4 help us in assessing the spiritual needs of patients.

Focusing on the Vision

by Jane Hall, NCF Director

When I was 8, my parents noticed that I had a vision problem. Everything was blurry, and I’ve worn glasses since then for 20/20 vision. Today, I don’t need glasses to see the vision for NCF that God has given our staff, but do I need strong faith and confidence in Christ to know where he is leading us.

Our NCF vision is to see more nursing students transformed by Christ, their campuses to be places where Christ is exalted, and for nurses to be Christ’s agents for change in the world. Thank you for your role in this mission! Here are some ways we are fulfilling our vision:

• Last fall, Renee Lick (left), Fran McHolm (right), and I reviewed the NCF core curriculum that we use to minister to students, develop mentoring resources, and orient new staff.
• Renee Lick spoke to students and recent grads in North Carolina about the basics of spiritual care and how nursing is ministry.
• In October and November, I took part in InterVarsity’s leadership meetings to refine the next 5-year Strategic Plan. NCF partners with our InterVarsity colleagues to fulfill this vision by growing student ministry on campus through evangelism and discipleship, and using social media and the Journal of Christian Nursing to influence students and nurses for Christ.
• We’re eager to see what God will do at the Round Top conference in Texas Feb. 3-5, 2012. Our 20th annual gathering will focus on Crazy Love: What? So What? Now What?

We thank God for vibrant NCF ministries on campus, among nurses, and through the communication tools of JCN and social media.

Our vision is secure, but we do struggle sometimes to see exactly how it will become reality. Please pray that we will live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Thank you for your prayers and financial gifts that provide the foundation for the ministry of NCF, along with God’s grace and guidance.

How to Help Patients Change

As a nurse, how do you help patients change their unhealthy behaviors?

“Telling people to change simply does not work,” writes Luann Richardson in her article, Motivational Interviewing: Helping Patients Move Toward Change. “Unless we see the need or have a desire for change and take responsibility for changing, change is unlikely,” she states.

Richardson describes how Motivational Interviewing helps patients explore their situations, experiences, feelings, and capacity for change. Rather than telling patients what to do, clinicians listen carefully, ask questions, build trust, and accept where patients are in the behavior change process.

“Health behaviors frequently relate to deeper issues, and ambivalence and resistance are natural barriers to change,” Richardson states. “It is important to elicit the patient’s viewpoint and explore reasons for and against change, remembering that responsibility for change resides with the person who must decide if, when, and how change will occur using his or her own resources.”

Read more about “Motivational Interviewing” in this free article from the Journal of Christian Nursing, January–March 2012. CE credits are available.

Join NCF and receive JCN regularly as a member benefit — or subscribe to JCN.

When nursing practice and moral conviction collide

Can nurses be forced to assist with abortions if they have a moral objection to the procedure?

Recently nurses in New Jersey were threatened with losing their jobs if they did not assist with abortions, so they took the issue to the courts.

As a result of a federal court hearing on Thursday, December 22nd, a New Jersey hospital agreed that it will not force nurses to assist with abortion cases in violation of federal and state law.  The hospital agreed not to replace the pro-life nurses or reduce their hours. The nurses affirmed that if a woman suffers a true emergency from an abortion, they will help protect her until other staff, such as the emergency team, arrives moments later.

Read more about the court’s decision and leave your comments below.

Top 5 for 2011

It’s been a busy year with 98 articles posted to the NCF Nurses Blog. Here’s the highlight reel of our most popular, just in case you missed them:

1. Nurses Trusted to Care: The top spot reflects the heart of our NCF mission as we posted ideas and tips for embracing other nurses with the love of Jesus during National Nurses Week in May.
2. Nurse’s Negativity: A nursing student’s observations on the positive – and negative – attitudes of the nurses on her new rotation.
3. Give JCN this Christmas: We’re proudly trumpeting the Journal of Christian Nursing; it’s a year-long treasure for nurses of faith!
4. God is God and I am not: A new nurse is frustrated when she can’t fix her patients’ problems.
5. Stop the Traffick: the Nurse’s Role: The story of a recent graduate making a difference in the world.

Overall, the NCF blog was viewed 11,000 times in 2011 (the equivalent of 4 sold-out concerts at the Sydney Opera House!). See more “Crunchy Numbers” in the annual report from WordPress.

Check out more news, stories and helpful articles coming in 2012 on the NCF Nurses Blog! We’re looking forward to what God will be doing this year!

Imagining Catastrophe

Have you ever spent a sleepless night rehashing a list of “what ifs” or worst-case scenarios?  Adele Calhoun’s recent article in The Well, “An Invitation from God: Healing from Catastrophic Thinking,” offers tips to help you get back to a healthy balance when you’re feeling overwhelmed or worried.

When worst-case scenarios flooded her, Adele began to look for the “invitation” God might have for her in the midst of too much to do.

“My thoughts and feelings are a lot like weather,” Adele writes. One minute they are hurricane force gales; the next, blissful summer breezes. So I purposely reminded myself that I was much more than the sum total of my thoughts or feelings. I am, in my deepest self, God’s beloved.”

If you’re plagued by catastrophic thinking, take a moment to read this article and start 2012 with a more secure foundation to deal with life’s tumultuous challenges – real or imagined.

Taking Inventory

This is a great time of year to take inventory of our lives.

In the nursing process, we observe, plan, implement and evaluate. Now is a good time to evaluate and reflect on 2011:

• What were the highlights of your nursing journey?
• Was there a patient who impacted you?
• Was there a time that you felt you made a real difference in a patient’s life?
• How did you see God work through you as a nurse?

It is also a great time to reassess and plan for the future:

• What did you learn from your nursing practice this year?
• What would you like to change in your practice for 2012?
• What goals would you like to accomplish?

We’d love to hear about the ups and downs of your nursing journey this past year, as well as what you are looking towards in the coming year.  Leave a comment below or join this discussion in our NCF Googlegroup.  Let’s encourage and learn from one another. Together we can rejoice in how God is at work.

by Bonnie Hann, NCF staff

A Prayer of Blessing for 2012

As 2011 comes to an end, we pray that you will be enriched by your experiences and memories of the past year and will look forward to what God has in store for you each day of 2012.

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26 TNIV

Merry Christmas from NCF