Nurses’ provision of spiritual care in the Emergency Setting – An Irish Perspective

BackgroundThe researcher’s interest in spiritual care arose during clinical experience in an emergency department. Over a 10-year period, I have observed, that in midst of a busy and increasingly overcrowded setting, nurses find time to provide spiritual care. Although this dimension of nursing practice is not explicitly labelled as spiritual care, it is apparent that interventions such as active listening, touch and ultimately connecting with the patient has, on most occasions, positive effects on the patient’s spiritual dimension. Subsequently, this has provided the momentum to carry out a study on how nurses provide spiritual care, in an emergency setting. The findings revealed that participants regarded spiritual care to be an integral component of their role. In addition, participants reported that they derived positive personal outcomes from providing this aspect of nursing care. Nevertheless, although most participants would argue that spiritual care is central to nursing practice, concerns were expressed with regard to its provision, in the emergency setting.