Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Nursing has evolved from a religious vocation to a profession that espouses holistic patient care. However, nursing curriculum is known to emphasize patients’ physical and mental care, while often neglecting their spiritual care. While nursing students recognize the need to provide holistic patient care, many are uncomfortable and lack the knowledge and skills to provide spiritual care. Evidence suggests that educating students about spiritual care during their nursing education can help them to feel comfortable in supporting patients’ spiritual needs. Nursing education plays an integral part in how student nurses are socialized to provide care to their patients. Thus, it is important for nurse educators to provide students with learning opportunities that foster spiritual patient care. Because of this need, an elective course was developed. The course covered several key concepts, including contemplative conversation, spirituality in health care, and spiritual practices. As well, students learned about their own spirituality and recognized that Spirit is a part of our overall being. The course was not designed to create spiritual care experts, but to provide the foundational knowledge and skills so that students could work collaboratively with other spiritual providers. Given the need to support all of a patient’s needs, it is necessary to include spirituality in nursing curricula.