Called to Care - 3rd Edition by Judith Allen Shelly & Arlene B Miller & Kimberly H Fenstermacher (Paperback)

About the Book

As nursing and healthcare continue to change, we need nurses who are committed both to a solid understanding of their profession and to caring well for patients and their families. Offering a historically and theologically grounded vision of the nurse's call, this thoroughly revised third edition of a classic text includes practical features for educators, students, and practitioners.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Nursing is a science and an art. Our art of caring is built on a foundation of biblical truths. Human beings, created in the image of God, are his most prized creation, and nurses have the honor of providing holistic care to the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of each distinctive person. In the third edition of Called to Care, Shelly, Miller, and Fenstermacher present the practice of nursing as the holistic care of the unique individual created in the image of God as the person seeks peace and hope. It is must-read for all Christian nurses!"

--Shanna W. Akers, dean of the School of Nursing at Liberty University and AACN-Wharton Executive Leadership Fellow

"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."

--Shirlene Newbanks, associate faculty, School of Nursing at Indiana Wesleyan University

"This is the book for which Christian schools of nursing have been waiting. This third edition of Called to Care has 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."

--Amy Rex Smith, professor and dean of the School of Nursing, Belhaven University

"This new edition of Called to Care carefully examines nursing's historical roots, theoretical tenets, and contemporary context through a Scripture-based lens, while engaging readers with vignettes, case studies, and discussion points. This thoughtful and timely invitation for reflection on nursing as Christian caring is so relevant for Christian nurses, nursing students, and nurse educators."

--Sue Kim, professor at the College of Nursing, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, and board member of Korea Nurses Christian Fellowship

"To my mind, the first edition of Called to Care has become a classic for Christian nurses. . . . The book offers a valid challenge to those who propose to interpret notions like 'good nursing care' from the perspective of different worldviews. Shelly and Miller show a broad and deep knowledge of the literature and make a well-argued case for the strengths and weaknesses in many trends in nursing theory and practice. For those who want to interact with what the Christian tradition of nursing looks like today, Called to Care is as good a starting point as any."

--Bart Cusveller, Viaa Christian University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, Netherlands

About the Author

Arlene B. Miller (RN, PhD) is retired from the Department of Nursing at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. Her books include Values in Conflict.

Kimberly H. Fenstermacher (PhD, CRNP) is chief nursing administrator, assistant dean of nursing, and associate professor of nursing at Messiah University.

Judith Allen Shelly (BSN, DMin) previously served as publications director for Nurses Christian Fellowship, director of NCF Press, and editor of the Journal of Christian Nursing. She is also the author of Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers and the coauthor of Values in Conflict.