How does hospitality show itself in a nursing context? As the JCN editors prepared for the recent Journal Club webinar on “Understanding and Supporting Minority Student and Nurse Perspectives,” the term kept popping up. Article authors Katherine Kunnen and Katherine Miller discussed during the webinar how their research into eliminating barriers for minority nursing student included the art of hospitality which opens up and welcomes those who might feel excluded or different.
As Christian nurses and followers of Jesus, we can create an atmosphere of welcome and belonging that invites others into our workplaces, academic surroundings, neighborhoods, and homes.
Nursing professor Elizabeth Byma observed in her guest blog post, “Hospitality and Nursing,” that both hospitality and hospital come from the Latin hospe, “signifying a guest, stranger, or foreigner.” Byma related how that is part of our relationship with God and depicts receiving and interacting with others in a generous manner: God has generously received us into his kingdom as believers in Christ—we replicate this mindset.
For Beth Gould Nolson, a nurse in Toronto, Canada, the writings of priest and author Henri Nouwen’s have enlarged her understanding of hospitality: it’s about making a space for strangers who can feel welcomed as friends. Nouwen wrote that hospitality is both action and attitude as one expresses openness and welcome to another person and gives graciously.
Nolson relates how Jesus extended life-changing hospitality, for example, when healing a man with leprosy (Matthew 8) and through healing a woman with a bleeding disorder (Matthew 9). Our work of healing has greater impact and spiritual value when hospitality girds our work.
In our own nursing practice or education settings, imitating Jesus’s hospitable care can look like
- active listening
- communicating fully
- presence
- physical touch
- recognizing another’s worth and dignity
- finding ways to demonstrate care despite barriers or set backs
In our desire to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), cultivating our hospitality skills is essential…and can be beautiful.
Byma, E. (2021, December 8). Guest post: Hospitality and nursing. Christian Scholar’s Review. https://christianscholars.com/guest-post-hospitality-nursing/#easy-footnote-bottom-3-7391
Kunnen, K. K., Miller, K., & Oh, Y. (2023). minority student perspectives of barriers, supports, and Christian virtues in an undergraduate Christian nursing program, Journal of Christian Nursing, 40(3). https://doi.org/10.1097/CNJ.0000000000001089
Nolson, B. G. (2021). Audacious hospitality: Nursing in the time of COVID-19. Practical Theology, 14(1-2), 132-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/1756073X.2020.1866850
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