I am mostly on the same page as artbrooks AND Georgiansilver but I want to make this comment on the efficacy of prayer.

I think prayer is effective in the same sense as a placebo- The human mind that prays for another is eased, and the human mind that is prayed for is eased, and there can be positive benefits to both.

BUT, as to objective healing benefits of prayer, there are the odd articles about it, but I think they are bogus. I heard someone on the radio say that it has been a longstanding Anglican tradition to pray for the health of the current monarch, and that statistically speaking English monarchs on average have not been distinguished by abnormally good health despite millions of prayers on a weekly basis for centuries.

Again, I don't hold it against the nurse that she feels a need to pray for her charges, and I like her asking the patients first, but there is a certain risk in doing this, even within the same religion, and I hope she was aware of this going in.