The Church Nurse Education Program (CNEP) is a unique BCM nursing program that prepares nurses to start health ministries in their churches. “Church Nurse” is the term used locally by BCM for its Parish/Faith Community Nurses.
CNEP utilizes the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing (FCN) Curriculum of the Westberg Institute for Faith Community Nurses in Memphis, Tennessee. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has recognized Faith Community Nursing (FCN) as a subspecialty in nursing.
Only registered nurses with an active and unencumbered nursing license may attend Church Nurse Education Program courses.
Objectives
Upon completion of this program, the participant should be able to:
- Utilize the concepts of health, healing and wholeness of the mind, body and spirit in relation to nursing care of individuals, families and congregations.
- Construct a peer system of support that identifies health promotion resources in the church and the community and provide avenues of collaboration between Faith Community Nurses and these resources.
- Assemble faith-based networks that support continuing personal spiritual formation and for continuing development of spirituality in health practices.
- Arrange health promotion activities for congregants across the age span and socioeconomic groups to ensure the best state of wellness for all persons.
Curriculum
Spirituality
Recognizes intentional care of the spirit as the core and differentiating component of the specialty practice of FCN.
Professionalism
Identifies scope and standards within which the FCN practices.
Holistic Health
Addresses the concepts of wholeness, health and healing including health promotion, education, prevention and support for other life issues (i.e. grief and loss across the life span).
Community
Discusses factors and components that constitute communities including issues of diversity among common interest groups.
Continuing Nurse Education (CNE)
The Congregational Wellness Division of BCM is an approved provider for Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) units for registered nurses through the Louisiana State Nurses Association (LSNA), an accredited approver of The American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
As an approved Provider of CNEs, Congregational Wellness can design and present various educational offerings to the registered nurses in the network free of charge or for a nominal fee. This is an added bonus because all registered nurses are required to acquire CNEs yearly to keep their nursing license current.
In addition to scheduled activities, special continuing education presentations may be offered throughout the year to keep the Faith Community Nurses abreast of new trends and knowledge.
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