Addressing Spiritual needs of Various Groups in Provision of Care

Addressing Spiritual needs of Various Groups in Provision of Care

Delivering spiritual care implies that nurses have to attend to the spiritual needs of various groups within the healthcare setting. Such care requires nurses to develop their competencies since they provide care to patients whose spiritual beliefs are widespread.  Subsequently, this paper discusses approaches a health care provider can use in health situations to address spirituality in respect to oneself, one’s patient, patient’s family, and one’s colleagues.

In addressing one’s spirituality with respect to a health situation, a nurse should develop his or her spiritual self-awareness to identify his or her values about life and health. By identifying one’s values, a nurse is able to become more sensitive to the spiritual needs of a patient (Baldacchino, 2006). Being more aware of one’s spiritual beliefs requires a reflection on one’s life and experiences to identify the meaning and purpose of one’s life. This requires the nurse to set aside time to practice his or her beliefs. Such a reflective exercise can, for example, help one to appreciate one’s limitations (Baldacchino, 2006), thus avoid developing compassion fatigue or burnout when one’s patients do not respond to treatment.

Awareness of a patient’s spiritual needs would also help the nurse to provide relevant care to the patient. Such awareness comes first by recognizing that spirituality differs from religiosity (Milligan, 2011). This allows the nurse to avoid imposing his or her spiritual perspective on the patient. Preparing to address a patient’s spiritual needs requires the nurse to establish effective communication (e.g. attentive listening, non-verbal communication) and interpersonal relationship with the patient (Milligan, 2011). This allows the patient to be comfortable sharing with the nurse about his or her spiritual needs, such as fears he or she could have due to uncertainty about death. Maintaining such a presence with the patient also enables the nurse to evaluate when to refer the patient to a specialist such as a chaplain and how conduct such a referral (e.g. by accompanying the patient when he or she goes to see the chaplain).

Concerning the patient’s family, awareness of their spiritual needs helps the nurse to encourage supportive patient-family relationships. Preparation to address the spiritual needs of the patient’s family may be achieved by being present during visitation and talking to family members to encourage their involvement in patient’s care (Baldacchino, 2006). For instance, such presence would help the nurse gain an appreciation of the fears that the patient may have concerning the uncertainty of his or her life. This would help the nurse to be aware on approaches he or she can use to encourage and comfort the patient and the family members.

Realizing that care provision is a team endeavor, being aware of colleagues’ spiritual needs would facilitate providing consistent quality care to the patient irrespective of the nurse on shift. As Baldacchino (2006) observes, failure to recognize patient’s spiritual needs as a role that involves all members in interdisciplinary team leads to the relegation of such needs in favor of performing medical and physical care activities. To address colleagues’ spirituality in health situations, it would thus be important to encourage improved communication and coordination of care. In addition, having education forums, which cover aspects of spirituality, where nurses learn of diverse spiritual beliefs, would help each nurse to avoid attaching a patient’s spirituality to religious affiliation thus enhance the consistency of care provided.

Appreciating spiritual needs of various groups in the healthcare setting can help to enhance capability to provide holistic care. Such needs start with self-awareness that allows one to identify values and beliefs that help one to appreciate one’s role in care provision. In addition, by enhancing awareness of patients’, patents families’ and colleague’s spirituality, one can facilitate development of collaborative relationships that help to foster healing.

References

Baldacchino, D. R. (2006). Nursing competencies for spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15(7), 885-896. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01643.x

Milligan, S. (2011). Addressing the spiritual care needs of people near the end of life. Nursing Standard, 26(4), 47-56.

 

 

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