Attention to Spiritual Needs in Clinical Nursing Practice

Abstract

When looking at comprehensive care, nurses need to systematize spiritual care and propose these kinds of interventions for their patients. Objective: Analyze nurses’ understanding of spiritual care and their experience in encouraging this type of attention for patients in clinical practice. Method: This is a descriptive study featuring a qualitative analysis of data. The sample included 17 nurses. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and examined via qualitative content analysis. Results: The nurses who participated in the study indicated there is a need for intervention to attend to the spiritual needs of patients and felt it is important to address this dimension of health care. However, they have difficulty in providing spiritual care. Lack of know-how and the way their work is organized were cited as obstacles to providing spiritual care, as was the priority on physical care. The nurses in the sample also noted that spiritual care, when offered, is not systematized. Conclusion: The research in question has the potential to encourage discussion on how nurses can be trained to offer spiritual care. It also demonstrates the difficulties they encounter and the kind of facilities or conditions they require to provide spiritual care in everyday nursing practice.