Spirituality in Health Care and Wellness

Spirituality in Health Care and Wellness

Question 1

The perceived role of spiritual beliefs in illness and recovery is the primary influence upon healthcare beliefs and the behaviour among people. Only through understanding their spiritual beliefs of people can the care provider or nurse effectively meet the needs of patients from diverse religious beliefs. When the nurse failure to understand what the spiritual needs of patient entail, the patient will fail to understand if the nurse or doctor is working in her/his best interest to save their life.  The patient will automatically think that it is only the spiritual being such as God who knows best. Why religion is not researchable, it plays a crucial role in healthcare psychologist, patient and care provider. Religion empowers the patient via connecting them to the community, superior force and psychological stability. As such, the ability to empower can be applied by the nurse to aid t patient struggling with diseases. Recognizing the spiritual needs of the patient helps the care provider to gain an understanding of the two issues. The beliefs that are crucial to patient’s health which can influence coping, commitment to the treatment regime, decision making, application of contemporary health practice, general wellbeing and support networks makes healthcare provider understand the spiritual belief of patient. Another issue to be understood is the patient’s wish regarding their belief and practices are not only acknowledged but also supported.

Some of the benefits of understanding the spirituality of the patient is learning about their coping techniques.  Most patient look for solace in spiritual beliefs when they are undergoing a painful and traumatic event.  Cancer patenting most case can undergo painful episodes which make most of them look for compassionate and spiritual comfort. Patients who perceive religion as a coping mechanism tend to persevere and cope with pain.  The famous spiritual reassurances a lot of patients believe in is they will end up in the hand of loving God, or the higher spiritual being and death is not the end of life, and more so, they will be living in their children and descendants.

Additionally, relaxation and meditation are crucial to the patient suffering from illness such as depression, insomnia, cancer and other chronic conditions. Meditation and relaxation have the benefit to the health of the individual in the following manner; reduced metabolism, reduced heart rate as well as decreased respiratory rate. The patient may present in the hospital with several diseases, however, related to stress. In this case, meditation and relaxation help a lot.

Spiritual belief also helps in comforting the parent who had lost their loved ones. Most parents are known to gain emotional and physiological adjustment through religious beliefs. More so, in the long run, their spiritual or religious commitment is strengthened. All in all, spiritual beliefs help the patient to be fearless and have increased self-esteem after recovery from an illness.  When people fearless, they tend to lead a more positive and healthy life.

Question 2

The end of life issues does not only address the physical aspect but the spiritual belief of the patient. In most cases, terminally ill individuals generate hope and comfort from spiritual and religious beliefs. Terminal ill patient display increased religiousness compared to other population. Therefore, a nurse who has religious diversity knowledge will holistically approach this. A higher sense of spiritual perspective is related to a greater sense of wellbeing. A person who is religiously involved is more likely to accept their death compared to the one who does not. Religious belief is related to recovery from depression and prevention at the same time.  Another critical point to note is religious people are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, eating imbalanced diet and leading a sedentary lifestyle.

Spiritual belief may help in coping with an illness such as cancer and other cardiovascular conditions. While illness interrupts routine, develop situations of dependency, separate families and drain finance, most eek people turn to spiritual comfort. While religious belief is associated with less anxiety and depression, the nurse should be at the forefront to understand the spiritual belief of their patients. A patient may fail to respond to treatment because the nurse has been unable to acknowledge the spiritual and religious belief of the patient. The patient does not respond to treatment because the care plan delivered is not holistic.

A patient with irritable bowel syndrome may show different signs of depression, excessive worrying, and insomnia lack of appetite as well as anhedonia.  In such a case, the patient may lose hope and purpose in life. She ends up not responding to medical treatment. When relaxation and meditation are added to the treatment plan, the patient can recover. Some of the religious stances can be negative and result in the poor quality of life, callousness toward other people and more depression. This because the patient may see the illness as a punishment from God as such has increased guilt or even have absolute belief in the prayer and when it does not work they tend to feel withdrawn or have anger. However, religious belief leads to positive coping. Most patient look for control via a partnership with supreme being whereby they ask for forgiveness and also forgive others. Thus they draw comfort as well as strength from spiritual beliefs. As a result, there is limited psychological distress.  Therefore while the patient may have physical care needs, spiritual needs play a higher level of achieving patient recovery. Some of the physical need may not be dealt with if the spiritual aspect of care is ignored. Nurses should be equipped, but religious diversity knowledge takes care of the patient from a different religious background.

Question 1

While working with the patient in the healthcare, care providers should understand and be open to the patient’s faith and spirituality. As a result of the diversity of religion, it is beyond doubt that the care provider will be providing care to people with different beliefs and world views. A lot of religion is always against particular medical procedures; therefore, the healthcare professional should be considerate of the patient’s knowledge. Spirituality is a crucial part of a person’s life, and it is typically considered an integral developmental task. In most cases, spiritual care implies serving social, spiritual, emotional and physical care to those needs. While care providers may not have the same beliefs, they have to listen to the patient in order for them to feel better. In the hospice environment, patients and other people may be experiencing the worse day of their lives due to a traumatic event which makes them question the spiritual beliefs they hold. Hospitals today try to recognize the individual as a whole. During the time of suffering and tribulation people asks a difficult question regarding the purpose of their lives, what is happening and why them and the existence of God implying that what they really need is spiritual care. Spiritual; care may not have a clear cut solution compared to physical care; however, it is important for the care practitioner to practice it.

Spirituality is an important part of compassionate and holistic care. Most patient who is more spiritual tends to have belief in coping with life stress, pain as well as illness. A patient who is more spiritual tends to look at life in a more positive manner. For instance, most patients with diseases such as cancer tend to find comfort in religion and spirituality, making them more satisfied with life. Spiritual beliefs can help a patient to lead a happy life even in the midst of severe symptoms. Additionally, spiritual belief can help the patient come with illness and face death. Finding companionship and spiritual belief is important to a different patient. Therefore care provider who understands this concept by trying to learn more about what is important in patient life may increase the patient outcome and satisfaction. Spirituality is known to encompass hope and positive thinking.

Specific spiritual practices such as meditation and relaxation increase the health outcome. Patients who practice transcendental meditation benefits health-wise. Having meditation twice in a day reduces heart rates, slow brain waves as well as decreased respiratory rate. Meditation also helps in treating a chronic condition such as anxiety, chronic pain, infertility, depression insomnia and premenstrual syndrome

The care provider should always approach the spirituality of the patient to understand the disease. In most patient spiritual beliefs affect the decision they make regarding coping skills and treatment plan. It’s the role of care provider to listen to aspects of the patient’s life that impact their decisions. Spirituality tends to be the patient needs and as such, should be prioritized by the care provides.

Question 2

Knowledge of religious diversity is important to any nurse who wants to practice holistic care. A patient having advanced cancer my find comfort in religious as well as spiritual comfort. Most important, this patient may be satisfied with live happier and feel less pain. Another study has looked at the influence of spirituality on pain. Spiritual belief is related to the ability to enjoy life besides having painful symptoms. According to American patient society, personal prayer was commonly used nondrug approach of controlling pain. Additionally, besides considered as the coping technique, it helps most patient to face death. Most patient look for spiritual solace after developing chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Another health issue that can be handled with religious diversity is HIV. The patient who is more spiritual tends to be less fearful of death as well as guilty. Through religious belief, the spiral people tend to recover more first from surgery and illness. The study conducted asserted that the patient who had undergone through heart transplant showed that individuals who followed up with religious activities, accurately followed up with treatment. They improved their physical functioning within 12 months, had increased self-esteem, fewer health worries and limited anxiety. It is factual that individual who worries less tend to have a better health outcome. Religious makes people to worries and lead a present happy life.

It is crucial for nurses to address the spirituality of the patient. The nurse inquiry into the religious belief of the patient strengthens the trust. The nurse should also be sensitive to the spiritual values of the patient to provide holistic care. Nurse inquiry of the religious belief of the b patient helps in the understanding of the disease better. For instance, a patient who had just found out that they had contracted HIV from the partner might be full of guilt and confusion. As a doc nurse, one may go straight to talk about a treatment plan; however, the patient may be in denial and having a feeling of guilt. The patient may keep on referring to God and why he had allowed such disease into her life. Since the two may not be connected, the nurse is supposed to focus on the religious belief of the patient. In this case, the patient may think that is a punishment from God due to her history of things like abortion and other sins. In this case, the nurse should refer the patient to a pastor or chaplain. After dealing with the issue of guilt and punishment in church, the patient will come back with trust in the nurse and read to start the treatment plan. In this case, if the spiritual belief of the patient were not addressed, this patient would not have returned for the treatment plan. A lot of patient makes decision-based on their religious beliefs. Therefore, the nurse should use religious diversity knowledge to address the aspect of the patient’s life, which impact coping skills as well as decision making.