As the holistic health paradigm (body, mind, and spirit), becomes central to health care, there is increasing interest in human spirituality and its impact on health and healing. In the 2005 manual for hospitals, the Joint Commission of the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) now includes requirements about spiritual care. The American Nurses’ Association (2005) has published similar documents, and NANDA manuals cite spiritual distress as an accepted nursing diagnosis. While spirituality is no stranger to nurses generally, incorporating a spiritual history and assessment into the usual nursing care plans or maps may be an uncommon task for many.

This CAI is designed to serve as a baseline tool for use by administrator’s “in house” and for university faculty “on campus” as well as “on line” educational programs. It is designed primarily for nursing staff and students to orient them to an ecumenical perspective of human spirituality, and other health care professionals (target disciplines: Occupational and Physical Therapy, Gerontology/Geriatrics, Social Work, Psychology, Counseling, Speech Pathology, Physician Assistance, Pharmacology, and MD, Family Practice, and DO programs will benefit.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
We interrupt your review of this abstract with a special announcement......

Research participants are needed to support a series of articles by Dr. Battey in The Journal of Nursing Administration. ASK Clients participating in this project will be compensated with special pricing for the Spirituality in Nursing Practice Course and Testing Module that will become normal educational resources following or parallel to the Research Project.

The “rules” for this project are:

WHO: RN to BSN, RN to MSN, MSN (no Cross Discipline) and Rns in Health Support facilities with a minimum of one (1) year of professional practice. A minimum of 30 participants is required per institution or organization. These may be spread over different educational levels and different campus/branch locations. All post-course research surveys must be completed and returned to Dr. Battey by November 1, 2011.

DISCOUNTS: Current ASK Clients will get $500 off the current site license expense of $975. Not a Client? Become one and get a $250 discount. Offer ends June 30, 2011. Other discounts apply for support materials for the institution and student/participants. Contact ASK for details.

OTHER BENEFITS: Following the completion (or in paralell) with the Research Project, the Spirituality Course and its companion Testing Module used as JCAHO competency completion verification will become a continuing education self-study resource or a general academic resource under the permanant licensing protocols and on-going support materials pricing (see our Standard Spirituality Purchase Order Form) .

We now continue with the LESSON OVERVIEW.

The review and examination lessons provide a score for evaluation of each individual’s knowledge; it is particularly useful as evidence of staff preparation for accreditation purposes. This CAI may also serve as a basis for dialog among health care professionals, educators, and/or administrators in the process of collaborating in the developing policies, procedures, programs, and skills in implementing spirituality in health care practice as well as academic programs. This research based CAI is designed for use in education at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, distance and continuing education, as well as agency in-house educational programs for staff development.

For Allied Health Professionals who are not chaplains, human spirituality is concisely defined as beliefs, values, meanings, goals and relationships. It is seen as a Likert scale or continuum, including from those

The manner in which spirituality is practiced varies; many people practice spirituality in formal, religious contexts while others acknowledge their spirit in less formal ways, and for some, not at all.

Spiritual care involves listening for the frame of reference of the patient or client (and their families, etc.) to determine how spirituality can be their support in health concerns. The nurses and other health care providers are encouraged to be aware of their own spirituality and hold fast to their own frame of reference. For a health care provider to impose one’s own beliefs, values, etc. about spirituality is professionally and ethically inappropriate. The recommended, succinct role of the nurse or other health professionals are to recognize, respond, record, report, and refer, i.e., the 5 “Rs” of spiritual care.

MAJOR COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Interpret findings of research studies relating health status to spirituality.
2. Synthesize knowledge, attitudes, and skills into the practice of conducting compassionate spiritual care for clients and families within health care contexts.
3. Identify interventions appropriate to selected elements of spirituality in patient care, i.e., beliefs, values, meanings, goals, and relationships.
4. Implement the role of the practitioner, i.e., the 5 “R’s”, in providing individualized spiritual care to patients/clients within the scope of policies and guidelines of the agency or educational program.
5. Provide common ground for cooperation between all disciplines in support and benefit to Clients and Families.

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