Spiritual Care in Nursing

Spiritual Care in Nursing

Spiritual views in the healthcare setting provide opportunities and confusion in equal measures, especially when the nurse and patient hold different spiritual views. According to Josephson & Peteet (2004), spiritual worldviews encompass people’s religious, philosophical and cultural beliefs about human existence. Ideally, many people often guard their spiritual views jealously, which may cause unnecessary confrontation when they detect a violation of their spiritual ideals. As a nurse, I have a moral and professional duty to provide quality care to all patients regardless of their cultural, spiritual, religious and philosophical ideologies. Understanding the potential conflicts in the event of conflicting worldviews can help alleviate the problem. According to Sweat (2013), seeking common ground without biased assumptions is critical in giving excellent and meaningful spiritual care to people with different worldviews.

My personality provides tremendous strength when providing spiritual care in the clinical setting. For instance, I am compassionate, emphatic and patient. Further, I am emotionally and socially intelligent, enabling me to interact with different people healthily. Patience with patients allows a provider to listen carefully to patients’ needs and apply social intelligence to seek meaningful dialogue geared towards understanding patients’ faith—and cultural beliefs without infringing on their worldviews (Sweat, 2013). In addition, emotional intelligence helps one understand patient contexts and incorporate spiritual ideas in a way that helps improve patients’ coping capability and well-being (Josephson & Peteet, 2004). My major weakness in spiritual care is that  I am easily irritated by religious discourses and am an ardent believer in natural ethics. However, social and emotional intelligence help me control my weaknesses.

I believe in the premise of God, the source of healing, but I am sceptical of Gion. Further, love and compassion are the ultimate teachings in many religious discourses and are the most excellent foundation of ethics. Through this lens, I believe neither the caregiver nor the patient should have the final say in interventional decision-making. Consequently, if I were the patient, I would be comfortable with my nurse playing a significant role in my spiritual well-being during care delivery. My view is premised on the idea that patients facing difficult situations are physically and emotionally disturbed, and allowing the caregiver to make critical decisions is an excellent source of spiritual wellness. However, I would not allow caregivers to force their religious and spiritual beliefs without common ground, consistent with Taylor’s (2018) argument that spiritual care should never be coercive.

 References

Josephson, A. M., & Peteet, J. R. (2004). Handbook of spirituality and worldview in clinical practice. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub.

Sweat, M. T. (2013). Can I give meaningful spiritual care to those with a different worldview? Journal of Christian Nursing, 30(2), 118.

Taylor, E. J. (2018). Can Spiritual Care Be Coercive? Journal of Christian Nursing, 35(1), 61.

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Spiritual Care in Nursing

When it comes to facilitating spiritual care for patients with worldviews different from your own, what are your strengths and weaknesses? Who would have the final say regarding ethical decision-making and intervention in a difficult situation if you were the patient?