Guardians of Grail

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Submitted : 2010-06-02 07:27:04Word Count : 552Popularity: 51Tags: steph daniels, bendy elephant, Inspiration, Emotional Intelligence, Spirituality, Nurses, Wilf McSherry, Transformation, Positive Thinking, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
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Nurses admit to lacking confidence when dealing with the spiritual issues of their patients.
Browsing through the Nursing Standard at a railway station bookstore the other day, I was [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] drawn to a [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] short article that stated [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] that 95% of a survey involving 4,000 nurses said that they needed training on spirituality, 80% of whom suggested it needed to be on the pre-registration curriculum.
Wilf McSherry, who conducted the survey said that [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] holistic care was being lost in the focus on physical well -being. Then [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] again, as suggested by Steven Wright, there appears to be a great deal of confusion among nurses on the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] subject of spirituality. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] The journal is on the shelves of a shop, available to both nurses and the public. Should Joe Public reading this be worried that nurses feel they are unable or insufficiently trained to offer more spiritual care? Many of these nurses were working in areas of care for the elderly.
The article is quite short, and my immediate gut feeling was there is a huge confusion between religion and spirituality. This, I feel, is compounded by a lack of knowledge of different religions as well as a fear of treading on others’ toes whose religions are ‘different’.
So what is religion and what is spirituality? Searching through definitions, a distinct clarification becomes extremely difficult to tie down. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Spirituality and religion are commonly viewed as one and the same. There [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is also a tendency to focus very narrowly on only a few aspects of religion. In addition, any religion that does not ‘fit well’ into these aspects tend to be excluded.
Some dictionaries describe monotheistic religion as a ‘specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices that prescribes certain responses generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.’
Adding to the confusion, some define religion in terms of ‘the sacred’ [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and/or ‘the spiritual’ and thus require two additional terms to be defined.
So, if defining religion is so confusing, what is spirituality? The definition of spirituality is that which ‘relates to or affects the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things’. This proposes that spirituality touches that part of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] you that is not dependent on material things or physical comforts. You are thus surrounded by spirituality everyday because, whatever makes you feel peaceful, joyful and content is spirituality. The New [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Oxford American Dictionary defines spiritual as ‘relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.’
This suggests that in spirituality you are looking within yourself for the power to change your life whilst in religion you are looking to outside forces to change your life.
My perception of nurses is that they more than fulfill the criteria above regarding spirituality. They do it on a daily basis, in small measures and huge, gigantic ways, often unacknowledged, part of the daily routine.
Is it perhaps the lack [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] of information and knowledge of others’ religions that cause the greatest dilemma for nurses and others? Would it be helpful to be more insightful about others’ religions? Would training and knowledge help to decrease judgement, be more open to accept others’ differences, be more confident when dealing with other people whose religion is different from their own?
Steph Daniels
Spirituality A Forgotten Dimension Of Care Among Nurses..... By Steph Daniels
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