Answering the Call to Care: Applying the Sacred Covenant Model in Holistic Nursing Practice

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Throughout the textbook, O’Brien compares how God established a sacred covenant with His people to nurses entering into sacred covenants with patients through their caring and service. Chapter 18 explores the specific aspects of this covenant in greater depth. This chapter also presents the history of spirituality in nurse caregiving, which has been described as an essential element of nursing practice, and spiritual concepts in nursing theories of caring.

Finally, Chapter 18 introduces you to the Sacred Covenant Model of Caring, a newly created “covenant-oriented” model of caring in the world of 21st-century health care, developed by the author. The focal concepts of this model include the “attributes of nursing,” which have been identified as a calling of service, a blessed trust, and a commitment to reverence.

For this assignment, you will write a two- to three-page paper exploring your personal calling to care and service in relation to holistic health care. You will discuss the focal concepts of the Sacred Covenant Model of Caring and describe how these concepts are applied in your nursing practice.

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

• Explore your personal calling to care and service in relation to holistic health care and discuss how the sacred covenant model of caring applies to your area of nursing practice.
• Understand how your own spiritual strengths and weaknesses impact your nursing practice.

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Resources

• Textbook: Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground
• Bible: New International Version Bible
• Article: “Spirit-guided Care: Christian Nursing for the Whole Person”

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Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Review Chapters 5, 6, 17, & 18 in the text: Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground
3. Read the article by Murphy and Walker, “Spirit-Guided Care: Christian Nursing for the Whole Person” or you can click here.
4. Write a 2-3 page paper, in APA format, that addresses the following:
   1. Explore your personal calling to care and service in relation to wholistic health care.
   2. Identify at least three personal spiritual strengths and at least three personal spiritual weaknesses and discuss how those relate to your nursing practice. Sections a and b combined are worth 30 points.
   3. Discuss the focal concepts of the Sacred Covenant Model of Caring and how you could, or currently do, apply this model to your area of nursing practice. Section c is worth 70 points. This needs to the main focus and volume of your writing. 
   4. You are required to have a minimum of two current and scholarly sources cited and referenced in this paper.  Your textbook may be considered one of the two sources used for this assignment. First-person writing is permissible in this assignment.
5. Proofread your paper for grammar, spelling, and APA errors.
   1. Use the Grammarly tool if that is beneficial to you.
      1. This link explains the use of the Grammarly tool: https://ocls.indwes.edu/tutorials/grammarly.
      2. Remember, the Grammarly tool does not have your nursing knowledge. Some suggestions or comments may not be accurate, but it is useful as a general tool to assist with improving your writing style as needed.
6. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop (Turnitin enabled).

*Copyright permission to upload the article to the course is allowed because the IWU Library also subscribes to the print journal and the publisher has given permission.