Dimensión espiritual del cuidado en situaciones de cronicidad y muerte. Surgen luces de esperanza para acoger mejor el reto de la totalidad, tras años de investigación en enfermería

Abstract

Part of the nursing discipline’s nature it the importance of looking at human beings in a totalitarian way. In order to do this it is necessary to have knowledge about the spiritual dimension of caring. This paper includes some reflections, advances and projections that in such direction have been developed by the Academic Group of Patient and Family’s Chronic Care at the School of Nursing in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. In the group’s work it is clear that the human being is important as a spiritual being. The paper contain the main areas of work in the spiritual care, the justification for working in the field, difficulties and results that have been obtain while doing such work, it clarifies the core topics in the field, the established relationship between health care and spirituality, and addresses its pertinence in situations of chronic and death care. Spirituality in its relationship to care is seen as a growth element among hard times. At the end it invites the reader to study and learn in the topic of spiritual care as a way to deal with the issue of total human care.