How Nurses Communicate With Diverse Patients: The Role of Religious Belief - Essay Example

In health care, there is a correlation between the quality of patient care, staff morale and effective nursing leadership (Manley 1997). Effective nursing leadership is the most important factors influencing maintenance of quality nursing care. Nurses need good communication and personal skills, ability and willingness to reflect upon and assess the effectiveness of their practice to tailor their nursing care to particular needs of individuals and their families. Additionally, it is also necessary that nurses ensure their practice respects and safeguards the privacy, dignity and emotional well being of the individual.

Respecting the patients religious believes and communicating on the basis of these believes aids in creating an environment congenial for treatment. Therefore, it is essential for nurses to understand the cultural and religious diversity. It is important to understand that diversity is all about understanding, respecting and valuing differences based on ethnicity, gender, color, age, race, religion, disability, national origin and sexual orientation. Nurses need to have a good knowledge of these diversities and use it to improve their communication skills.

There are several researchers who have emphasized the need to educate nurses in spiritual care (Stranahan, 2001; Ross, 2006). In fact, researchers have identified nurses’ attitudes towards their clients’ spirituality as an important component of spiritual care and has it impact on their competency (Leeuwen and Cusveller, 2004; McSherry, 2006). There are also several studies that point out that the way a nurse relates to their own spirituality is an important predictor of the quality of the spiritual care they will provide to their clients (Highfield et al.

, 2000; Wasner, 2005). There are several guidelines prepared for the purpose of guiding nurses to provide the highest standards of patient care within a diverse society. Spiritual needs are of prime importance in these guidelines. The