Spirituality in Polish nursing and chosen tools used for its measuring – subject matter presentation based on literature review

Abstract

Introduction. In times of the dehumanisation of medicine, a holistic approach to patients seems indispensable. Moreover, there is an increasing number of scientific papers on the significance of soft competencies and the non-clinical nature of care in the quality and effectiveness of therapeutic processes. The staff often neglects or ignores the elements of spiritual care in everyday practice. It results from the concern not to interfere with the patient’s personal life and from staff shortages, which entails the staff ’s heavy workload on duty. Consequently, a phenomenon known as missing nursing care was diagnosed, involving skipping some activities during everyday nursing practice in order to perform the indispensable, most essential procedures for the patient. Aim. The aim of the study was to present the importance of spiritual care in nursing and to present tools for its measurement. Method. The method is an nonsystematic review of current national and world literature. Summary. Providing spiritual care is primarily aimed at responding to patients’ needs and concerns. Such care is based on effective communication skills, through which a nurse establishes a bond and trust with the patient, and consequently, the patient is more willing to engage in therapeutic processes, so hospitalisation might be reduced significantly.