Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Nursing Practice

The spiritual heritage of nursing started in the religious milieu where it was carried out by men and women who imitated the love of God. All this later became eroded by secularization, materialism and technology. Observation has shown that not only nurses but other health professionals including physicians lament that they are unable to respond to their patients’ spiritual needs as they lack the necessary training. The lack of connecting spiritually with patients (many of whom wish their carers would meet their spiritual needs) has left them to struggle alone with their suffering with no body to help them find meaning and purpose of their illness. Health care professionals, on the other hand, are left unfulfilled in their work lacking meaning which inevitably leads to stress, burnout and compassion fatigue. The Covid 19. brought with it unprecedented demand on the front line health care professionals when they dealt with so much death and dying on a daily basis, it certainly appeared like a nightmare from which they would still wake up. Imagine the long-term effects from the flashbacks some may live with, long after Covid 19.