On March 15, 16, and 17, there will be a presentation at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles of Harvard Medical School's symposium "Spirituality & Healing in Medicine—11." (See related editorial on page 30 of this week's Sentinel.) In just one of many conference sessions, faculty member Janet A. Macrae, Ph.D., R.N., who is in private nursing practice and who teaches part time in the division of nursing at New York University, will be talking about "Nursing Spiritual Healing Practices with Emphasis on Florence Nightingale."

It's a subject Dr. Macrae has often discussed in her lectures and in her books. ^{Michael D. Calabria and Janet A. Macrae, eds., Suggestions for Thought by Florence Nightingale: Selections and Commentaries (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994). Macrae, Therapeutic Touch: A Practical Guide (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1987) .} She points out that Miss Nightingale, in her work and philosophical studies in the mid-nineteenth century, saw God as a perfect being who regulates the universe through law, not caprice, who is the essence of order and benevolence, and who would not let the human race remain in a suffering and fragmented state. Miss Nightingale saw no conflict at all between science and spirituality. In fact, she felt that science was actually necessary for the development of a mature concept of God.

In an informal conversation with Dr. Macrae, we talked about some of these issues, and about her own commitment to healing.

SPIRITUAL COMPONENT

"It was during several years I spent as a hospital nurse," said Dr. Macrae, "that I began to feel that nursing was too much caught up in the medical way of looking at things, which was too mechanical. The spiritual and esthetic components were missing. I became convinced that the nursing profession would have to rethink itself, because its job is to take care of the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. And I'm grateful to say that nurses as well as the general public are now realizing the limitations of technology in health care, and are thinking seriously about what kind of care we really need.

"Several of the approaches now being used connect us to the inner spirit, which is an aspect of the Divine. Florence Nightingale, whose philosophies have influenced my career enormously, felt that every nursing action, the entire nursing process, should involve caring for the whole person through a God consciousness. What Miss Nightingale was doing was uniting spirituality and science within nursing."

SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES

We wondered whether Dr. Macrae believed there were some "Nightingales" in the nursing profession today.

"I think there may be quite a few," she said without a moment's hesitation. "It's just that they're not making the front pages of the newspapers the way Miss Nightingale did! There are many nurses around who are acting according to scientific principles in their own particular line of nursing, and who have a similar sense of compassion. Although I should add that, for Miss Nightingale, compassion was not enough. She was always trying to find the scientific laws underlying human health and well-being. For her, these laws were the thoughts of God. She felt that this is a way to the truth, and that we should open up our minds to the science and the truth underlying all religions."

Dr. Macrae sees virtually no changes since the Nightingale erain in the essential qualities required of good nurses. "One has to be interested in the welfare of others and want to do something about it." She emphasizes that nurses must understand the importance of study and develop an ability to manage stress and maintain their own health. "Nurses' compassion and patience are sorely tested when they are tired," she says, "but I think we're much wiser these days about optimal functioning for nurses as well as patients."

What would she say to an aspiring nurse? "Try it out in your spare time at high school," says Dr. Macrae. "See if you like it, if you enjoy it. The important thing is that you're drawn to it. Miss Nightingale believed that people should engage in the kind of work they enjoy the most, because every type of work is necessary and can be ennobled by the divine Spirit.

In my profession and in my everyday life, I strive for harmony and peace not only in myself but in others too. The greatest joy I have is to feel that I am an instrument for the divine force in healing—that higher consciousness which is my unity with God."