Meeting the Spiritual Needs of the Acutely and/or Chronically Ill - Research Paper Example

HEALTH CARE The health care sector is currently under pressure to adopt reforms regarding the quality of service delivery. The various health stakeholders in the world have been championing for adjustments in the policies regarding healthcare. The nurses have the primary duty to ensure that the patients recover. For this to be achieved, it has been realized that some further social interaction standards need to be adopted by the clinical officers and management (Peplau, 1991). Services of nurses to the patients should not be limited to mere medical administration and prescription but it should also involve positive interpersonal relations between the medical professionals and their clients (Ellis, Gates & Kenworthy, 2003).

After undertaking an investigative research from a few patients suffering from terminal or chronic illnesses, it was found that they need a lot of moral support and spiritual encouragement besides treatment. Encouragement is a powerful force that can boost the feelings of a chronic patient’s mood and gain courage with a belief that he/she will still live longer (Stein-Parbury, 2009). Nurses act as the closest people that the patients interact with for a longer time. They, therefore, perceive the them to be more than just health care providers but also a source of hope for them.

Different groups of patients posses different social support desires and this is an important factor that the nurses need to be told. The adult have families to take care of and they should be given a different approach as opposed to children who require constant encouragement. The healthcare sector has been at the forefront of suggesting the introduction of the spiritual concept among the nurses as they deliver services to the patients especially the ones suffering from long term illnesses like HIV/AIDS and cancer.

As the nurses treat the patients, it is important to underline the important role of their encouraging words to such people. It requires good communication skills and humble approach from the nurses to treat the patients with utmost respect and tender care that will continue giving them hope of a better future (Cobb, Puchalski & Rumbold, 2012). Most important of all is the application of spiritual approach in which the nurses are expected to encourage the sick that there exists some supreme being with the powers to heal them.

Many patients will feel relief when they are made to believe that the otherwise condemned chronic infections in them can be overturned by some forces. This requires that the syllabus of nurse training institutions be restructured to capture the spiritual role in their duty. Spiritual nourishment for the patients reflects to them the love and care the community offers them in their illness and this can work positively towards the patient’s action towards adherence to the medical prescription and faith of healing from the treatment (Young & Koopsen, 2005).

Professionalism is a tool that if blended with spiritual belief is equally motivational to the healthcare professional themselves since they also need a lot of commitment and moral support to work. It is recommended that the nurses should embrace the spiritual concept as they interact with the patients for the overall good to the society.ReferencesCobb, M. R., Puchalski, C. M., & Rumbold, B. D. (2012). Oxford textbook of spiritaulity in healthcare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Ellis, R. B.

, Gates, B., & Kenworthy, N. (2003). Interpersonal communication in nursing: Theory and practice. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Peplau, H. E. (1991). Interpersonal relations in nursing: A conceptual frame of reference for psychodynamic nursing. New York: Springer.Stein-Parbury, J. (2009). Patient & person: Interpersonal skills in nursing. Chatswood, N.S.W: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.Young, C., & Koopsen, C. (2005). Spirituality, health, and healing. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett..