Acute Care Nurses’ Spiritual Care Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify barriers in providing spiritual care to hospitalized patients. A convenience sample (N = 271) was recruited at an academic medical center in New York City for an exploratory, descriptive questionnaire. The Spiritual Care Practice (SCP) questionnaire assesses spiritual care practices and perceived barriers to spiritual care. The SCP determines the percentage that provides spiritual support and perceived barriers inhibiting spiritual care. The participation rate was 44.3% (N = 120). Most (61%) scored less than the ideal mean on the SCP. Although 96% (N = 114) believe addressing patients spiritual needs are within their role, nearly half (48%) report rarely participating in spiritual practices. The greatest perceived barriers were belief that patient's spirituality is private, insufficient time, difficulty distinguishing proselytizing from spiritual care, and difficulty meeting needs when spiritual beliefs were different from their own. Although nurses identify themselves as spiritual, results indicate spirituality assessments are inadequate. Addressing barriers will provide nurses opportunities to address spirituality. Education is warranted to improve nurses' awareness of the diversity of our society to better meet the spiritual needs of patients. Understanding these needs provide the nurse with opportunities to address spirituality and connect desires with actions to strengthen communication and the nurse-patient relationship.

Teaching spirituality to student nurses

“…These programs could further support and sustain novice nurses with considering the significance of spirituality. [28] Being present and listening to patients was clearly identified as a struggle by these nurses. A possible approach to empower nurses and increase spiritual care is through education and providing skills to practice holistically.…”

“…Situational barriers to providing spiritual care include insufficient time, [28] the be-lief that patient's spirituality is personal, complexity in distinguishing proselytizing from spiritual care, and difficulty in meeting needs when spiritual beliefs were not the same as the nurse's beliefs. Additionally, studies indicate that some of the other barriers include lack of colleague and management backing, lack of privacy to sustain patients' wishes, and insufficient education.…”

“…[6,27] By addressing spirituality and improving spiritual care, nurses have the power to improve what is recog-nized, understood and remembered by patients while hospitalized. [28] 2.1 Spiritual care…”

Critical Care Nurses’ Perceived Need for Guidance in Addressing Spirituality in Critically Ill Patients

“…Our findings support existing evidence that nurses do not feel completely prepared or comfortable in attending to the spiritual aspect of patient care. 2,11 The nurses in our study perceived a need for further education or readily available resources to assist them in providing culturally competent spiritual care.…”

“…1 To provide holistic care, nurses must be prepared to address all dimensions, including spiritual dimensions. Research 2,3 has indicated that nurses often feel unprepared to meet the spiritual needs of their patients. A review of definitions in the literature revealed no common or universally accepted definition for the term spirituality.…”