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Called to Care
Nursing is a vocation: a calling from God to care for others. The role of the nurse originally grew out of a holistic Christian understanding of humans as created in the image of God. Yet as nursing and healthcare continue to change, the effects have proven disorienting to many. Now more than ever, we need nurses who are committed both to a solid understanding of their profession and to caring well for patients and their families.
For over twenty years, Called to Care has served as a unique and essential resource for nurses. In this third edition Judith Allen Shelly and Arlene B. Miller, now joined by coauthor Kimberly H. Fenstermacher, present a definition for nursing based on a historically and theologically grounded vision of the nurse's call:
Nursing is a ministry of compassionate and restorative care for the whole person, in response to God's grace, which aims to promote and foster optimum health (shalom) and bring comfort in suffering and death for anyone in need.
Focusing on the features of the nursing metaparadigm—person, health, environment, and nursing—they provide a framework for understanding how the Christian faith relates to the many aspects of a nurse's work, from theory to everyday practice.
This new edition of Called to Care is thoroughly revised for today's nurses, including updated examples and new content on topics such as cultural competency, palliative care, and the current state of healthcare and nursing education. Each chapter features learning objectives, discussion questions, case studies, and theological reflections from Scripture to help readers engage and apply the content. For educators, students, and practitioners throughout the field of nursing, this classic text continues to provide clarity and wisdom for living out their calling.
"This is the book for which Christian schools of nursing have been waiting. This third edition of Called to Carehas been thoroughly updated to address changes in nursing and provides a sound theology of Christian worldview. The updated format—including examples, questions, objectives, and case studies—provides structure for ease in classroom applications. Because the writing is clear and the content is accessible, this book also has general interest to Christian nurses beyond a classroom setting. I found it a pleasure to read. I plan to give it to my faculty members and to use it in our senior nursing synthesis courses for both our prelicensure and RN students."
"The authors of the third edition of Called to Care clearly describe the theological foundation of nursing from a Christian worldview. As in previous editions, the text fills a critical need for nurses seeking to develop and explain their nursing philosophy and integrate their Christian faith in nursing practice. The biblical foundation of nursing is threaded throughout the text, assisting readers in reflecting on God as the source of their worldview and calling to nursing, supporting their motivation to be nurses. The authors encourage nurses to carefully consider biblical and theological truth when evaluating nursing theories they incorporate into their practice. Implications for caring for the whole person regardless of culture are emphasized in the text. The authors define culture, describe the person as a cultural being, and support the Christian nurse's role in providing Christ-centered care for diverse populations from a biblical perspective, emphasizing that people from all cultures should be respected and treated with kindness. The case studies and discussion questions following each chapter are good teaching tools, making this an excellent textbook for schools of nursing to include as a resource for their curriculum."