Spiritual Care in Nursing | Assignment

Running head: SPIRIRUAL CARE IN NURSING 1
SPIRIRUAL CARE IN NURSING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Introduction
Spiritual care is the founding stone of many healthcare organizations that focuses on
provided spiritual wellbeing for the patients as well as the medical staffs. People who are into
spirituality make it an essential aspect of care when they are involved in a healthcare
organization or receiving services from any particular medical care. It is the duty and
responsibility of nurses to engage in optimum level of spiritual care for patients who need it or
when they are associated with an organization that promise spiritual wellbeing for patients.
Including this aspect in the area of care enhances quality care and safety in patients by increasing
positivity in their stress response and making a balance between psychosocial, physical, spiritual,
interpersonal skills and sense of integrity and excellence in patients (Choudry, Latif &
Warburton, 2018).
Engaging Spiritual beliefs in a terminally ill patients
I work in a catholic healthcare organization as a nurse and it is my duty to support and
guide a patient spiritually when they are terminally ill or they require assistance during the end of
life care. Proper holistic care is given by including faith and healing as a core principle so that
the patient is given faith integration through medical practice. In Christianity, a nurse with
biblical beliefs will also respect people who do not belong to the religion of Christianity. I came
across a patient who was suffering from lung cancer and she had a poor prognosis according to
her medical team. Her terminal disease was detected during the end stage, which gave very less
opportunity for the medical practitioners to proceed with the treatment effectively. She was an
80-year-old woman who was at the end of life and needed palliative care (López-Sierra &
Rodríguez-Sánchez, 2015). She was from the catholic school of thought and had a strong belief
in the writings of her scripture. It was my responsibility to support and guide her during this

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phase as she used to stay disturbed and mostly wanted to stay alone as she had lost all will and
hope to live. To engage her more into spirituality I used to read bible for her every day after my
shift and one of the quote was relevant to her condition, which was Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I
am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will
uphold you with my righteous right hand” and Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every
need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”. These sayings in the bible made
her motivated to feel that God is by her side and he will look after during her tests and trials
(Zehtab & Adib-Hajbaghery, 2014).
Faith and dying Patient
After engaging her spiritual thoughts, I also needed to engage my spiritual beliefs while
caring for a person who is dying. Making bible my daily read was beneficial for my wellbeing as
well because constantly being near people who are in their end stage can be detrimental for the
mental health. Bible was used as a guidance with spiritual care handbook side by side to be in
touch with the concept of spirituality in a healthcare setting. The quote that kept me going was
Hebrews 11:1: Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. It
made me feel that God is near and he is seeing my constant struggles in caring for people in their
end stage (McDowell & South, 2017).
Feelings and Experience
The overall experience during this phase made me feel content about my profession of
nursing because it helped me in increasing hospitality and care in my life. It is an essential trait
for a catholic because according to bible, Peter 4:9–10 “Offer hospitality to one another without
grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful