Healing Mission Research Articles

Police Violence in Health Care Settings in US Media Coverage

Hospitals do not collect or share data tracking their policing and security activities despite their reliance on police and security personnel, including armed officers. Thus, little is known about how hospital security is associated with patient and staff safety. To examine the harms exerted by health care-affiliated police and security personnel. For this qualitative study, data were collected using a systematic Media Cloud search for US news media coverage from January 2011 to May 2022. A total of 18 987 articles on policing and hospitals were screened and a content and thematic analysis of articles that met the search criteria was conducted, which involved incidents that revealed harm to patients, patients' families, and staff. Data were analyzed from October 2022 to April 2023. Incident year, incident location (hospital name, city, state), survivor and victim characteristics (race and ethnicity, presence of mental illness), and a narrative description of the incident focusing on outcomes of harm exerted by police and security personnel in the health care setting. A total of 48 unique stories across 25 US states were included. The median (range) year published was 2017 (2009-2022). Harms reported to have been perpetuated by health care-affiliated police and security personnel were identified within 5 domains from 48 unique incidents: (1) patients shot by police or security personnel (17 patients); (2) patients subject to excessive use of force (17 patients); (3) patients arrested (7 patients); (4) patients subject to sexual assault (2 patients); and (5) hospital personnel or those considered collateral damage shot, injured, or arrested (5 individuals). Most survivors and victims were Black, although the race and/or ethnicity of involved individuals was not routinely reported across the news stories. Mental illness was the most documented medical condition among patients injured or killed by health care-affiliated police and security personnel. This qualitative study of US news media found that police and security personnel in hospitals were reported to have perpetuated harm via excessive force, sexual assaults, injuring patients and health care workers, and fatal shootings. Compounded by a lack of transparency and accountability mechanisms, this may represent an underrecognized manifestation of structural racism at the organizational level. Policy suggestions include introducing accountability measures, deescalation techniques, and removing arms from hospital security personnel to reduce harm and fulfill health care's healing mission.

Reclaiming Healthcare’s Healing Mission for a Sustainable Future

Healthcare in the United States has reached a point where it is unsustainable for the long term, particularly for the poor, the elderly, and healthcare workers (HCWs) themselves. We propose a framework for making U.S. healthcare more sustainable, whereby the service returns to its core mission of healing. The framework casts that healing mission in broadly applicable, practical terms, whereby leaders of healthcare organizations and in the wider for-profit, not-for-profit, and governmental healthcare ecosystem take concrete steps to improve outcomes for patients and HCWs. Those steps involve aligning healthcare resources, incentives, and policies with the core mission of healing and then implementing change in specific ways that particular organizations have already shown are achievable and sustainable. We use those examples to illustrate how healing-oriented innovations in healthcare delivery get deployed and how progress toward sustainability then ensues. Lessons from these efforts can be tailored to individual healthcare contexts and institutions—and then applied on a national scale. The discussed initiatives can also guide the direction of future research on healthcare sustainability.

"Just the Facts Ma'am": Moral and Ethical Considerations for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and its Potential to Impact Patient Autonomy and Hope.

Applying machine-based learning and synthetic cognition, commonly referred to as artificial intelligence (AI), to medicine intimates prescient knowledge. The ability of these algorithms to potentially unlock secrets held within vast data sets makes them invaluable to healthcare. Complex computer algorithms are routinely used to enhance diagnoses in fields like oncology, cardiology, and neurology. These algorithms have found utility in making healthcare decisions that are often complicated by seemingly endless relationships between exogenous and endogenous variables. They have also found utility in the allocation of limited healthcare resources and the management of end-of-life issues. With the increase in computing power and the ability to test a virtually unlimited number of relationships, scientists and engineers have the unprecedented ability to increase the prognostic confidence that comes from complex data analysis. While these systems present exciting opportunities for the democratization and precision of healthcare, their use raises important moral and ethical considerations around Christian concepts of autonomy and hope. The purpose of this essay is to explore some of the practical limitations associated with AI in medicine and discuss some of the potential theological implications that machine-generated diagnoses may present. Specifically, this article examines how these systems may disrupt the patient and healthcare provider relationship emblematic of Christ's healing mission. Finally, this article seeks to offer insights that might help in the development of a more robust ethical framework for the application of these systems in the future.

Anthropological, Cultural and Ethical Aspects of Caring for Patients in Africa

Nowadays, faced with pandemic infectious diseases and incurable genetic pathologies with unfavorable prognoses, the concepts of quality of life, quality of care, and the challenges of the right to health for all are major challenges for global public health. These health crises push for anthropological, cultural, and ethical approaches that would promote good care for the sick in Africa. A synthesis study based on specialized scientific literature was carried out to present the different ways of providing care to patients. The objectives of this research were to: present the philosophy of care in ancient Greece, expose the anthropological and cultural aspects of care for the sick in Africa, and finally, show the contemporary ethical challenges of therapeutic patient care. The care of their sick counterparts is encoded in the genes of higher mammals, especially in “Homo Sapiens”. Over the years, care for the sick in ancient Greece, which was initially conceived as a blurry artistic mixture of metaphysics and physico-naturalism, gradually became rationalized and systematized to become “tekhnê”, the art and technique of modern medicine. Meanwhile, the traditional African approach to care, which has not evolved much and is mainly based on an agrarian civilization, has consisted of bringing together all cosmic and supernatural elements into a totality, where nature is combined and associated, and solidarity, caring, and empathy are combined, so that the entire community is invested in the healing mission. Therefore, the patient is never condemned to be alone in their hospital room to face their loneliness and nothingness.<

It’s Story Time: Unlocking the Learnings in Malpractice Settlements

Risk managers and the insurers with whom we work have the greatest opportunity in healthcare today to improve patient safety. Our most egregious mistakes become medical malpractice claims and lawsuits. Some of these go to trial where the outcome is public; however, the least defensible cases are settled without a trial. Almost every settlement includes a confidentiality or nondisclosure clause (NDC). Such clauses become “gag orders.” Providers who could learn from the mistake of a colleague do not, and the same mistake is repeated, often many times over. The stories of these settlements are a rich source of learning, and it’s time to tell them—anonymously. No naming names, no disclosure of settlement amounts, no “blame and shame.” Stories are powerful, attention-grabbing, and memorable. Telling them is a unique opportunity to link the prevention of patient harm to the healing mission of healthcare and acknowledge the common wish of every plaintiff that “this won’t happen to someone else.”

ASAM speakers: M.D.s must make equity part of healing mission

Addiction medicine specialists need to make their voices heard stronger in their communities in order to correct persistent social inequities in service delivery, the commissioner of the New York Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) told attendees of this month's annual conference of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Chinazo Cunningham, M.D., delivered her remarks in an April 1 scientific plenary session that outlined personal career milestones that reflected her desire to close wide disparities in care.

A Not-So-Zulu Zion: Healing and Belonging in Isaiah Shembe’s Nazaretha Church

Ideas about healing produced challenges to a sense of ethnic belonging as well as a ‘Zulu turn’ within Isaiah Shembe’s Nazaretha Church. This article traces Shembe’s evangelism prior to the emergence of the Nazaretha to show that his spiritual autobiography and earliest religious communities offered few indications of an ethnic framework for belonging. Instead, claims about healing helped to integrate Shembe as an outsider in Natal, South Africa, and led to the emergence of the Nazaretha as a new denomination. Nazaretha strategies for acquiring space to enact their healing mission pushed the congregation towards greater engagement with the resources of Zulu-ness in the 1910s and 1920s. At the same time, their healing mission encouraged them to welcome anyone who sought God’s healing. This led to sustained engagement with Indians in particular, some of whom attributed their restored health to Shembe and converted to the Nazaretha faith. Healing, then, drove complex – and seemingly contradictory – processes; using it as a lens more fully accounts for how Shembe himself and, later, members of the Nazaretha Church understood shifting parameters of belonging.

Jesus as News: Crises of Health and Overpopulation in Galilee

What made Jesus ‘news’? The key reason given in Mark and Matthew is that Jesus was an effective healer. In Q, likewise, Jesus fulfils John’s prediction of a Coming One who will baptize in Holy Spirit and fire by means of his healing mission. Luke complicates this slightly by emphasizing Jesus’ teaching on social justice, and John conceptualizes the healings as ‘signs’, but both also indicate that Jesus was news because he healed people. Thus, Galilee was in the grip of a chronic health crisis which people – both rich and poor – experienced as stress, and Jesus was news because he provided a solution. While being an exorcistic healer was not unusual, Jesus’ healing apparently was, both in its effectiveness and in its approach, involving physical touch. We now know that affective touch has a positive effect on the immune system. Disease crises in Galilee can be linked to the great density of its population, associated with widespread rural poverty and environmental degradation. Previous assessments of population in Galilee have hitherto been much too small.

A. B. 심슨과 영산 조용기 목사의 치유선교신학 비교 연구

A. B. 심슨과 영산 조용기 목사의 치유선교신학 비교 연구

Ecumenical Movement and Healing Mission of WCC

이 논문의 목적은 WCC의 치유선교를 위한 교회의 과제를 제시하는 것이다. 이를 위해 2장에서는 WCC의 에큐메니칼 운동의 의미를 설명하였는데 첫째로 에큐메니칼 운동은 교회의 일치와 연합을 추구하는 교회일치운동이고, 둘째로 에큐메니칼 운동은 세상을 섬기는 생명, 정의, 평화운동이며, 셋째로 에큐메니칼 운동은 복음전파와 하나님의 선교를 추구하는 선교운동이다. 3장에서는 건강과 치유의 의미, 치유선교의 필요성과 그 의미에 대해 살펴보았는데 “건강이란 개인과 사회의 안녕과 육체적, 정신적, 영적, 경제적, 정치적, 사회적 안녕과 다른 사람과 물질적 환경과 하나님과의 조화로움을 이룬 역동적 상태”를 말하며, 치유란 깨어진 온전성을 회복해가는 과정을 의미한다. 이에 근거해서 WCC는 치유선교를 육체적, 정신적, 사회적, 정치·경제적, 생태적, 영적 차원에서 온전성을 회복해가는 통전적 치유사역이라 정의한다. 4장에서는 치유선교의 신학적 근거를 세 가지, 즉 신론적 근거: 치유자 하나님, 기독론적 근거: 상처받은 치유자 예수님, 성령론적 근거: 치유선교의 동력원이신 성령으로 제시하였다. 5장에서는 치유선교를 위한 교회의 과제를 제시하였는데 1) 치유공동체로서의 정체성 회복의 과제, 2) 정의를 통한 치유선교, 3) 화해와 평화를 통한 치유선교, 4) 생태계 회복을 통한 치유선교, 5) 하나님과의 관계의 회복을 통한 치유선교, 6) 예배의 치유기능의 회복을 통한 치유선교로 제시하였다.BR 2005년 아테네 선교대회의 주제는 “성령이여 오소서, 우리를 치유하고 화해시키소서: 그리스도 안에서 치유와 화해의 공동체가 되도록 부름받은 그리스도인”이었다. 이제 한국교회가 교회의 치유선교적 사명을 재확인하며 치유공동체로 거듭남으로써 세상을 변화시키는 하나님의 선교에 참여할 수 있기를 희망한다.

Imagining a Broader Healing Mission for Healthcare

Imagining a Broader Healing Mission for Healthcare

Witnessing to Christ Today

Witnessing to <scp>C</scp>hrist Today

A Spiritual Healing Mission Remembered: James Moore Hickson's Christian Healing Mission at Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1923

The 1923 world tour by the Anglican spiritual healer James Moore Hickson finished in New Zealand. Coming at a time of heightened interest in the phenomenon of spiritual healing, Hickson attracted large crowds and intense media attention. Because so many of those who came for healing came from outside the city, the mission at All Saints' Anglican Church in the provincial city of Palmerston North involved a disproportionate effort on the part of parishioners compared with other centres. So, although the number of permanent cures was not as high as was first hoped, and the mission did not lead to increased participation in church activities, the event became a significant part of the history of All Saints'. As elsewhere, some individuals were deeply affected, many claiming to experience a new depth in their spiritual lives. These individuals, and stories of the Hickson mission, encouraged openness to spiritual healing and charismatic renewal that continues to influence this particular church to the present day.

Disability and the Healing Mission of the Church

International Review of MissionVolume 95, Issue 376-377 p. 112-116 Disability and the Healing Mission of the Church Samuel Kabue, Samuel Kabue Samuel Kabue is the coordinator of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN), which is a decentralized programme of the World Council of Churched (WCC). EDAN operates from Kenya under the auspices of the All Africa Conference of Churches but its mandate extends to all the WCC regionsSearch for more papers by this author Samuel Kabue, Samuel Kabue Samuel Kabue is the coordinator of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN), which is a decentralized programme of the World Council of Churched (WCC). EDAN operates from Kenya under the auspices of the All Africa Conference of Churches but its mandate extends to all the WCC regionsSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2006.tb00545.xCitations: 1 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume95, Issue376-377January‐April 2006Pages 112-116 RelatedInformation

Revisiting justice in the first four Beatitudes in Matthew (5:3-6) and the story of the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-28): A postcolonial reading

Reading the Gospel of Matthew from the perspective of postcolonial theory means taking the context of the Gospel seriously. The political and religious circumstances of Palestine under Roman colonization influenced Matthean redaction. From a this perspective, it can be argued that Matthew presents Jesus as a revolutionary leader whose divine mission was to challenge and overthrow the Roman empire and its local collaborators on behalf of the poor, the powerless, the afflicted, the hungry and the outcasts. His mission was to replace existing power structures with the universal, just and powerful kingdom of heaven on earth. The article argues that the story of the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-28) falls into this reality. She negotiates justice and righteousness on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter. Seen from the perspective of Jesus’ Beatitudes in Matthew (5:3-6), her encounter with Jesus helps him discover the wider scope of his healing mission, beyond geopolitical and cultural boundaries.

Optimal Healing Environments for Chronic Cardiovascular Disease

A substantial increase in chronic cardiovascular disease is projected for the next several decades. This is attributable to an aging population and accelerated rates of obesity and diabetes. Despite technological advances that have improved survival for acute events, there is suboptimal translation of research knowledge for prevention and treatment of chronic cardiovascular illness. Beginning with a brief review of the demographics and pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, this paper discusses the obstacles and approaches to optimal care of patients with chronic cardiovascular disease. The novel concept of an optimal healing environment (OHE) is defined and explored as a model for integrative cardiac health care. Aspects generally underexamined in cardiac care such as intrapersonal/interpersonal characteristics of the health care provider and patient, mind/body/spirit wholeness and healing versus curing are discussed, as is the impact psychosocial factors may have on atherosclerosis and cardiovascular health. Information from research on the impact of an OHE might renew the healing mission in medicine, reveal new approaches for healing the heart and establish the importance of a heart-mind-body connection.

Why Nurses Stay

EACH AND EVERY day, nurses do extraordinary things that affect lives of others-nursing is true make a difference profession. Janet Quinn's perspective on nurses as everyday heroes is one that hospitals and health systems should embrace. While I do not agree with her overall approach to caring and healing healthcare system by forming holistic Nightingale units, I do concur that care for caregiver is essential and is an area on which healthcare administrators should focus. Although it is true that hospital work is demanding and stressful and nurses are leaving nursing in general (particularly hospital nursing), many nurses are staying. It is beneficial to focus on why those RNs are staying as well as what drives some away. Research suggests that nursing satisfaction increases when nurses are empowered to do what matters in their work and their important role is recognized, along with having stable and positive work relationships. No magic bullet exists, nor is it necessary to create one under guise of pilot units such as Nightingale units to develop a hospital culture that retains nurses. A number of other nursing care delivery approaches have been tested, such as Planetree patient care units in y8os and patient-focused care in 1990s. None have been able to demonstrate improved outcomes in arena of patient care delivery or costs that are sustainable or can be replicated on a large scale. Such is case with Nightingale units. Quinn states that the nursing shortage is symptom of a diseased healthcare system environment that indicates something is toxic, dangerous, and potentially lethal. I propose that if such a disease exists, cure lies in healing profession of nursing. Quinn suggests providing habitats for healing, that is, providing an environment that attracts and nurtures nurses. This is a noteworthy goal. Furthermore, she contends that bottom-line, business-oriented focus of healthcare is overemphasized to detriment of caring and healing. I have a different perspective and would argue that a business-oriented approach and a reasonable bottom line are part of effective stewardship that enables care and healing mission to occur. Declining reimbursement from both public and private sectors and significant increases in unreimbursed care, coupled with escalating wages, pharmaceutical costs, and other operating costs, require a business-oriented approach to ensure care for those we serve. It is also necessary if we are to afford competitive wages and benefits that our healthcare workers deserve. Patient acuity in inpatient setting requires intensive nursing care, albeit through medical model of care. This is a reality of American hospital-- inpatients require acute care. Although some modalities described in Nightingale units have merit, they should be evidence based and affect clinical outcomes. …

Toward a Theology of Inclusion for Those with Disabilities

ABSTRACT People with disabilities, the largest minority in the United States, are frequently separated and marginalized from society. The congregation of Christian churches on Sunday morning does not reflect the prevalence of people with disabilities. The church should realize that Jesus' healing mission not only relieved disease, it integrated the person back into full membership of the community. Theology, which instructs the church's understanding as a community of believers, will benefit from critical reflection about disability. Our theological understanding of church and faith must also address the place of disability as a human experience.

Christian Credentials for Roman Catholic Health Care: Medicine versus the Healing Mission of the Church

Christian Credentials for Roman Catholic Health Care: Medicine versus the Healing Mission of the Church

Christian credentials for Roman Catholic health care: medicine versus the healing mission of the church.

Christian credentials for Roman Catholic health care: medicine versus the healing mission of the church.