Paper short abstract:

This papers discusses ongoing work on the development of competencies and educational resources for nurses in healthcare, including with the use of technologies. Referring specifically to post-Covid spirituality needs, these developments will more aptly support nurses to respond to patients’ spiritual needs in the hospital setting.

Paper long abstract:

Historically there has be a close relationship between the nursing services and spiritual care provision to patients, arising due to the evolvement of many hospitals and nursing programmes from faith-based institutions and religious order nursing. With increasing secularism, these relationships are less entwined. None the less, as nurses typically encounter patients at critical life events, such as receiving bad news or dying, nurses frequently understand the need and requirement for both spiritual support and religious for patients and families during these times. Yet there are uncertainties, and nurses can feel ill-equipped to deal with patients’ spiritual needs. Secularity appears to indicate a lack of importance of religious and spiritual beliefs and yet repeated studies show that nurses find that patients and families have spiritual needs that require support. Globally nurses report that they provide spiritual care, and indeed, it is found generally that attending to both spiritual and/or religious needs, through the provision of pastoral care, can have a positive impact on health outcomes. However, challenges exist, as little education or preparation is provided to these nurses, including in relation to the increasing use of more and more advanced technologies. Moreover, they may have uncertainty around their role and may be unclear as to what interaction they should have with Pastoral Care Services or Healthcare Chaplaincy, especially if they lack the required competencies to understand the need for assessment or referral. The development of this confidence and the required competencies is important, especially so with increasingly multicultural societies with diverse spiritual and religious needs, and as COVID-19 has shown, with the growing use of advanced technologies.