Spirituality and Religion in Nursing free essay sample

If it is found that cheating and/or plagiarism did take place in the writing of this paper, I understand the possible consequences of the act/s, which could include expulsion from Indiana Wesleyan University. Stephanie Shoulders September, 12, 2012 NameDate Spirituality and Religion in Nursing Spirituality is defined as a quality that transcends religious affiliation and strives for inspiration, reverence and awe, and as the inherent drive of a human being to empathize and act for others just as one would do for himself. Shakeel, 2012) Religion as a master motive whose origin is rooted in basic human desires for security and protection, but with maturity provides a comprehensive philosophy of life, meaning, a value-system, and beliefs, and practices which promote integration of life events amp; personality. (Highfield, 2012) Spirituality differs from religion because it is built based on your religion beliefs. Religion is the center of your spirituality. When I think of spirituality I think of my personal beliefs or actions based on my religion that I use in everyday life. We will write a custom essay sample on Spirituality and Religion in Nursing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Spirituality in nursing is used without thinking about it. I believe that it comes natural when taking care of patients. Holistic care is taking care of a patient as a whole, not just fixing the current diagnosis. Holistic nursing is a type of nursing that focuses on the patient as a whole, recognizing that other aspects of a patient besides their physical health can affect them and can also be part of their health. (Smith, 2012) This type of nursing requires nurses to integrate self-care, self-responsibility, spirituality, and reflection in their lives. (Smith 2012) Sometimes patients just need a caring person to listen or talk too, that is providing spiritual care. Patients my request you to pray for them or with them and that is consider spirituality. Being a nurse I sometimes don’t think about the spiritual side of nursing. When I receive a new patient I have to say that I am guilty of sometimes not assessing for spiritual needs. Spiritual needs are overlooked greatly when nurses are taking care of patients. I sometimes have to slow down to properly provide holistic nursing. When in nursing school I cannot remember instructors focusing on spirituality. Spiritualty is a touchy subject because you don’t want the patient to think that you are pushing your religious beliefs on them. As stated before I provide spiritual care every day in nursing without even thinking about it. I’m still not comfortable assessing for spiritual needs but it is something that has to be done. Working in rehab, patients comes to us very sad because they are ready to go home. Patients have to be spiritual sound to be able to participate in therapy to get better. By making sure the patient does not have anything going spiritually we can get the highest level of participation and recovery. Providing spiritual care to a patient who does not have a religion belief does not change anything for me. I still have my spirituality and religion beliefs regardless. A patient deserves to have the same care no matter what their beliefs are. A patient my still need spiritual care even if they don’t have a certain religion. Everyone has a spiritual nature that has the potential to be touched through the interventions of the humanistic nurse. (McEwan, 2004) You could listen to a patient and that is providing spiritual care. By just making a patient feel comfortable is being spiritual. I have provided spiritual needs to patients many times. I have had many different experiences providing spiritual needs to the patient. One encounter that was really touching to me was when I was fairly new nurse on the floor and I had been having this patient for many days and I took a few days off and did not have the patient when I came back work. On that day another nurse had him as a patient and had to administer blood to him. He was very nervous and voiced his concerns to me. He overheard the nurse talking that this was her first time giving blood and became more nervous. The patient asked me to come in the room with him while she started the blood. I agreed and went in and held his hand for a few minutes while the blood was getting started. It made my day because this patient made me feel like he trusted my care. This was one my first experiences providing spiritual care. Another experience was when a patient had to go over for a procedure and was very anxious. This patient had concerns about the procedure. I explained the procedure and reassured the patient it was going to be okay. The patient asked if I would pray for them while they were gone. I agreed and gave the patient a hug to comfort them before they went to the procedure. Just by doing that the patient calm down and went to the procedure safely. Spirituality and religion is a big part of nursing care. Nurses needs to be more sensitive to the patient’s holistic needs in their assessments. Nurses can better care for a patient’s spiritual needs are taken care of. Taking care of patients your spiritual or religious beliefs does not have to be compromise. Nurses have to be open minded of their patient’s beliefs. Providing spiritual care is something that I will be working to provide better holistic care to my patients.