The role of ICU nurses in the spiritual aspects of end‐of‐life care in the ICU: an explorative study

Abstract

This explorative study provides an overview of the perspectives of chaplains about the role of ICU nurses during end-of-life care, specified to spiritual care. Chaplains mentioned different roles, responsibilities and competences which are needed for ICU nurses to give spiritual care. These roles, responsibilities and competences included giving spiritual care to patients and families as standard care. Chaplains agreed that ICU nurses should start and maintain a dialogue with patient and families, but that it is also important to be aware of one's own spiritual background. However, education about spiritual care is needed to establish this. It could be recommended to educate ICU nurses during their ICU training or retraining about spiritual care and reflection.

Spiritual Care in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review of the Recent European Literature

“…Fifty-three articles were included [33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85]. Seventeen were quantitative studies [33,34,36,37,40,43,50,51,54,61,66,67,69,71,74,81,82], of which the majority ( n = 11) were survey studies, 27 qualitative studies […”

“…Seventeen were quantitative studies [33,34,36,37,40,43,50,51,54,61,66,67,69,71,74,81,82], of which the majority ( n = 11) were survey studies, 27 qualitative studies [38,39,41,42,44,45,46,48,49,53,55,56,57,58,59,60,63,64,68,73,76,78,79,80,83,84,85], most of which were interview studies ( n = 13), and nine mixed-methods studies [35,47,52,62,65,70,72,75,77]. Most studies were conducted in Western Europe ( n = 37), especially in the UK ( n = 10), Germany ( n = 8), and the Netherlands ( n = 13).…”

“…In a survey, meant to identify spiritual care training courses, 80% of the responding EAPC members used this definition as well [40], and several researchers gave definitions of spirituality which reflected elements of this definition, like meaning or the connection with others or the significant [36,43,58,73,84]. …”

“…A qualitative study with Norwegian hospital nurses, for instance, reported that participants tried to help their patients to find peace [46], and nurses and volunteers in another qualitative study saw their spiritual care as successful when they were able to mitigate patients’ (existential) fears [84]. Chaplains in Dutch focus groups described several nursing interventions of which one was to create a peaceful environment, for instance by playing music and dimming light [58]. …”

“…For example, a survey study with hospice volunteers and their coordinators found that all training programs on spiritual care included self-reflection on personal spirituality as obligatory [54]. In addition, some studies reported differences between hopes, convictions, or needs of patients, their family members and caregivers [38,76], and ICU nurses in a Dutch study on spiritual care stated that they, in order to provide spiritual care, should know themselves and be aware of their own backgrounds, which required reflection and education [58]. …”