What would spirituality be according to your own worldview?
According to me, is the conviction that there is a power greater than oneself. It also involves having faith in a force larger than oneself or any other person. In my role as a nurse, I behave myself ethically and responsibly and draw on these principles to enhance patient care, understanding, and compassion for others. Additionally, faith supports patients in managing stress, making important health decisions, and raising their overall level of living. In my role as a nurse, I gather spiritual histories in order to gain a deeper understanding of the patient’s spiritual and religious background and to choose the most suitable care.
Every patient has particular that may or may not be religious in nature. This request may be made explicitly or indirectly by the patient. The patient or their family might not even be aware that they are requesting spiritual support. Patients who are experiencing spiritual distress or their loved ones may express feelings of alienation, hopelessness, worry about the future, aimlessness, or belief in punishment (Selman et al., 2017). As a nurse, I am always conscious of the patient’s requirements, regardless of how I express them. If I’m not careful, they might miss these appeals for spiritual support.
As a nurse, I may incorporate the patient’s spiritual needs into their treatment plan. I use connections, patient involvement, and physical therapy interventions as part of a comprehensive care plan. Spiritual care initiatives are adaptable, and the nurse and other members of the healthcare team can provide them in a variety of ways (O’Brien et al., 2018). Honoring the patient’s spirituality, being present with them, developing a therapeutic relationship, and engaging in conversation all increase the patient’s value. Some spiritual initiatives I might use as a nurse include praying with the patient, demonstrating compassion, encouraging the person’s religious practice, attempting to solve problems, promoting forgiveness, assisting the patient in identifying self-expectations and determining whether those expectations are realistic, and promoting profound expression of emotions through communication skills (Selman et al., 2017).
How do you believe that your conception of spirituality would influence the way in which you care for patients?
It is critical for an organization’s performance to have effective nurse leaders and managers. Nurse leaders are frequently found on the clinical floor, where they supervise RNs and help with patient safety and advocacy (Post University, 2021). A nurse manager is frequently someone with decision-making authority and responsibility over large teams of nurses, who manages staff training, communicates with other managers, and employs evidence-based practice (Post University, 2021). Nurse managers and leaders must possess qualities such as patience, open-mindedness, compassion, and persuasiveness (Whitney, 2018). It would be difficult to be a strong leader or manager without a combination of these talents.
Our nurse manager would evaluate incident reports when I worked in postpartum. The nurse manager noticed an increase in the number of nurses reporting postpartum hemorrhages. So the nurse manager met with the nurse leaders to discuss what could be done. The nurse manager made the decision to use the post-partum bleeding scale. The nurse leaders were in responsibility of implementing and training the new scale, while the nurse manager examined the forms and incident reports to determine its efficacy.
Spirituality, in my opinion, is a belief in a power greater than oneself. Believing in a power bigger than oneself or any other human being is also required. As a nurse, I act ethically and responsibly, and I use my principles to improve care, comprehension, and human compassion. Furthermore, faith helps patients manage stress, make important health decisions, and improve their overall quality of life. As a nurse, I gather spiritual backgrounds in order to gain a better understanding of the patient’s spiritual and religious history and to provide the most suitable care.
Each patient has unique spiritual requirements that may or may not be religious. The patient may convey this requirement verbally or implicitly. The patient or family may not even realize they are asking for spiritual help. Spiritually distressed patients or their relatives may express a sense of disconnection, hopelessness, future apprehension, purposelessness, or belief in punishment (Selman et al., 2017). As a nurse, I am constantly aware of the patient’s needs, irrespective of conveying them. They may miss these requests for spiritual assistance if I am not attentive.
As a nurse, I can include the patient’s spiritual requirements into their treatment plan. I employ connections, patient involvement, and bodily therapeutic interventions as part of a complete plan of care. Spiritual care initiatives are adaptable, and the nurse and other healthcare team members may provide them in several ways (O’Brien et al., 2018). By respecting the patient’s spirituality and offering presence, building a therapeutic connection, and conversing with the patient gives value to the person. Saying a prayer with the patient, providing caring participation, fostering the person’s faith’s practice, trying to explore options to hurdles, boosting pardon, providing assistance to the patient in uncovering self-expectations and establishing whether those goals are achievable, and encouraging profound articulation of emotions with communication skills are all examples of spiritual initiatives I could employ as a nurse (Selman et al., 2017).
Although spiritual care is meant to help people, I frequently gain as a nurse. Interpersonal trust and a connection with the patient require high emotional intelligence. It’s important to realize that spirituality isn’t always theological care (Ross et al., 2018). Whereas the health care industry easily incorporates spirituality into therapy, spiritual care is essential in all sectors of operation. For the sake of our clients, we as caregivers must respect spiritual support, learn the required skills, and schedule time to satisfy these needs.
What would spirituality be according to your own worldview? How do you believe that your conception of spirituality would influence the way in which you care for patients?
According to my worldview, my concept of spirituality is more along the lines of Pantheism, as I do not directly associate spirituality with a monotheistic perspective. For me, I feel most spiritual when I am outside, surrounded by nature and experiencing a sense of oneness with it. This feeling follows me throughout my life, and I frequently perceive it as strange coincidences with what I am feeling and seemingly random occurrences throughout my day that just feel too similar to be coincidences. While this is not a highly specific spirituality that makes me feel most at peace within a religious house or structured practice, it is enough to comfort and serve me. As a result, this understanding of spirituality is frequently diametrically opposed to that of my patients. For my nursing practice, it is sufficient if my patients can find comfort from a religious source during what may be the darkest period of their lives, regardless of the exact source. “Each of these religions, among other things, has a unique set of beliefs and rituals that can, and do, impact the client and the nurse-client relationship,” according to Registered Nursing (2019, para 3). I was not brought into nursing to impose my spiritual beliefs on my patients, and that is not what they require from me as their nurse. The most influential thing I can do as a nurse is enter the patient-nurse relationship with an open mind and be willing to ask my patients directly about their religious and spiritual needs and how we can best include those in their medical care. Overall, I believe that my best response to this discussion post is that the influence my own spirituality, which differs from many others, has on my nursing care is to be accepting of whatever spiritual viewpoint someone else may have.
Reference
Registered Nursing. (2019, Sept. 27). Religious and Spiritual Influences on Health. NCLEX-RN. Retrieved from
Spirituality is the belief in something greater than yourself that guides your life and choices in order to maintain the balance of your mind, body, and soul. When the mind, body, and soul are out of balance, it appears to me that people begin to question their spirituality and their purpose in life. As a nurse, I understand that illness and disease are more than just medications and treatments. I treat each of my patients as an individual as a nurse. We’ve all heard of treating the patient as a whole, but for me, this means not only following orders for medications and treatments related to their specific illness(es), but also evaluating not only what I can measure and see, but also what I can’t. I’m asking about religious preferences and mood, such as whether the patient appears sad or depressed, and whether the patient has a sense of well-being or impending doom. Nurses are trained to look for things that others cannot see; I believe this is the most significant difference between nurses and doctors. Doctors look for illnesses based on symptoms and treat to cure or prolong life. Nurses look at the grey areas, the unseen and unmeasurable parts of a person’s mind, body, and soul, as well as the black and white. In your opinion, what does spirituality look like?
