Running head: SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

Spirituality in Nursing Final Leadership Journal

JoAnn Norman-Metcalf
Ferris State University

Spirituality in Nursing Final Leadership Journal

JoAnn Norman-Metcalf

Week one: 5/20/15 Spend some time reflecting on the word spirituality.
What images does it bring to mind? Write down thoughts and feelings and
images that come to mind while reflecting on this meaning?
Exploring what spirituality means to me has opened a wide range of
questions that I have regarding my own beliefs and attitudes towards
spirituality .I have always considered spirituality, faith and religion as one
aspect of my life .When I think of spirituality images of all things that are
good and beautiful such as human life itself, images of Christ, praying hands,
angels and flowers.

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

2
I have recently used a tool in one of my other classes that through a process
of elimination left me with the things that are most important to me. The
conclusion was that I am not a materialistic person and my faith is what fuels
me. Without my faith and belief in a higher power I would be lost, it is
because I am allowed by grace to be a good mother to my children and
grandchildren, a good wife to my husband and do the work that he has
called me to do every day. This is a link to my definition of spirituality
because what is most important to me produces feelings of love and comfort
rather than something I can put a dollar value on.
Week two: 5/25/15 Being aware of your own cultural and spiritual values is
the first step in understanding your clients. Complete the self-assessment
(spiritual and cultural) on page 116 of Young and Koopsen. Did you uncover
any hidden biases that might interfere with your ability to provide spiritually
competent care? If so, what are one and two steps you could take to dissolve
them?
After completing the spiritual and cultural self-assessments, I did not
uncover any hidden biases that would interfere with my ability to provide
spiritual competent care. I have revealed that the most important things in
my life have changed based on the events that have happened in my life
such as the death of my parents. I hold my immediate family closer to me
and I am more likely to be comforted by small things such as reminiscing
and family gatherings. My belief in a higher power has allowed me to be able
to keep perspective of what my purpose in life is as well as nurture the
relationships I have built. I also take comfort in knowing how to express
gratefulness and pray for the gifts I have been given. Culturally I find others
culture and beliefs that are different than my own, interesting. I keep an
open mind and listen carefully to gain understanding I believe that there is
beauty in diversity and differences are what make us unique individuals.

Week three: 6/1/2015 Answer the seven questions related to world view:
Understanding Your Worldview.
Part 1
1. The prime reality-the really real is a presence of what I know is God.
2. The nature of external reality, that is, the world around us? Is one that is
created by God that is chaotic and is viewed by each person for them to

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

decide what there world looks like. It is also is ones own personal
relationship to the world and what we see it to be as individuals.

3. What is a human being? A human being is a person made in the image of

God.
4. What happens to a person at death? Their soul is lifted to the heavens and
the body becomes a shell of a person that was.
5. Why is it possible that we know anything at all? We are made in the image
of God with the ability to use gifts that he has given us to transform our life
into something good.
6. How do we know right from wrong? We know right from wrong by using a
combination of internal God given instinct, human choice and consciousness.
7. What is the meaning of human history? The meaning of human history is
the acknowledgement of the creation of man and earth. Evolvement of its
richness of what was, what is and what we see the future to be. That we
learn from the past have a sense of hope now and grow from that we can
look back on to help us make decisions for the future.
Part 2
After reviewing the stages of faith, I have come to the realization that I have
characteristics of both stages four and five. Although I do not have any
anger or doubt my faith at all, I struggle at times with things I have not
thought about that have come up as I get older. I am also somewhat
uncomfortable sharing with my immediate family but feel like I can express
my feelings to strangers more freely. I am aware of the big picture and rely
on my faith as a reminder of all things that are righteous and good and
striving to live as an example for my children. I am more open to the world
and its views than ever before which makes me question some of the
preconceived notions I may have once had. I find peace in knowing that
what I do know will help me in the future.

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

Week four: 6/8/2015 Foundations for Spiritual Care Giving -No journal entry.
Week five: 6/15/2015 In your experience do you think if you asked a client a
question? Do you have any spiritual needs? he/she would understand what
you were asking? How could you phrase this to obtain the information you
need to determine a clients spiritual care needs? What is your comfort level
in discussing spirituality with your clients?
In my experience, most clients do not know what you mean by the phrase
Do you have any spiritual needs. In the hospital where I work, we ask
patients are there any cultural, ethical or spiritual practices that may
influence the care we provide, we also elaborate on the definitions such as
are you willing to receive blood products, needs a visit from our pastoral
care or use your own clergy, what church, faith etc. I am very comfortable
with this and have asked patients this question on every admission I have
had. This can be used as an opportunity to get to know my clients better and
make them more comfortable because they know we are aware of their
culture, beliefs and values.
Week six: 6/22/2015 Complete a personal inventory of your own spirituality.
What did you discover? How self-aware are you? Do you practice holistic
care? How might you further develop your role as nurse healer?
In completing a self-assessment of my spiritual assessment, I have
discovered that my own beliefs and values influence the way I provide
spiritual care. The assessment I completed and answers are as followed: My
faith is important to me, I do believe in a higher power, I do practice religious
activities with my family and my children have been taught the importance
of faith in our lives. I pray daily in some form, whether its for me, my family,
coworkers or those I care for and about. I believe it gives me strength. I
believe that spiritual care is an important part of providing care in the
healthcare field and this is an important part of the mind, body and spirit
connection. . My strengths I have to offer include: open communication,
compassion and willingness to listen and react to important issues
surrounding the overall care of my patients. Although, I do have knowledge
of spirituality and consider myself spiritual in my own right, my own
knowledge about spirituality hinders my conversation as well as comfort
level of others explanations, beliefs and values. I am always aware of my
patients spiritual needs and take time to allow my patients to share their

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

5
thoughts and beliefs with me and take their expressions as a serious part of
their overall care and well-being. I believe that do practice holistic care
taking every encounter with my patients as an opportunity to help foster
hope and encouragement. I believe to strengthen my practice classes like
this are intricate parts of continuing to learn about providing competent
spiritual care to my patients. Although I am comfortable providing spiritual
care to my patients, there is room for improvement. I believe the best way
for me to further develop my role as nurse healer is to become more
engage in some of the spiritual care assessments used in this class and get
out of areas of comfort that I have now to really see what service I can
provide for my patients to ease the pain and suffering they may be
experiencing.
Week seven: 6/29/2015 What are some barriers you experience to providing
spiritual care for your patients? What are some strategies or measure you
can take to try to address some of these barriers within yourself or your
organization?
When it comes to barriers to providing spiritual care to my patients I would
say lack of time would be the largest barrier. Although I attempt to and
make spending adequate time with each of my patients their physical needs
often come first and depending on the depth of their illness ,I sadly can say
that I often find myself bombarded with tasks. Although, I do not feel that I
can address this with the organization that I work for or be comfortable in
doing so, as an organization I believe they provide excellent spiritual care
services tour patients and families and that there are members of the health
care team whose primary responsibility is to provide spiritual care to our
patients. This does not mean that I will not always attempt to evaluate the
spiritual needs of my patients and be involved in that part of their care
because I believe that the spiritual connection serves as an important part of
healing in the world of medicine.

Week eight: 7/6/2015 Nursing Interventions and Therapies No journal entry

Week nine & ten: 7/13/2015 The case study discussion and the course
readings provide a variety of nursing interventions related to providing
spiritual care. Which interventions are you most comfortable with and which
ones do you feel you would need to explore more to develop your

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

6
understanding of its effectiveness and use? How will you continue to develop
skills and competencies in the area of spiritual care?
I believe that a better understanding of different cultural practices and how
their cultural practices relate to my patients and their families lives, in life
and death relating to spirituality is needed for me to be comfortable with
some of the interventions that are listed in the individual case studies of my
peers. I have learned so much throughout this journey about spirituality and
religions of others and I can truly say this has made me more aware of these
important issues that are so important to care for the mind, body and spirit
of my patients. However, I have always been very comfortable providing
spiritual care for my patients. I am comfortable with praying for my patients
either alone or with family present, I often ask my patients if they would like
pastoral care or if they would like me to call their own clergy. At my place of
employment we have 2 TV channels that have soothing music that were
purchased for the comfort of our patients ,they are very effective where
music therapy can be used to soothe the soul. We also have a cart that has
CDs, a CD player with a variety of music in different languages that works
well too. I believe a lot of providing spiritual care to my patients is presence,
to be there to listen and allow them to express what they are feeling. Of all
the interventions that we have reviewed during this course, I believe that
presence is the most important. To be fully present with your patient during
this difficult time allows us to perform other interventions that the patient
and their family needs at this difficult time. Additionally, through the
research I conducted patients report that a nurses presence provides
comfort to them.
Week eleven and twelve 7/27/2015 Final Entry. Summarize your learning
from this course. Discuss what was meaningful for your development
personally and professionally as related to spirituality and health.
The knowledge I have gained from this course is unmeasurable! This class
armed me with additional tools needed to perform spiritual assessments
needed in my practice. I can truly say that I have learned something each
and every week of this course. The most meaningful knowledge I have
gained has been about myself through self-assessment and awareness
knowing what my own beliefs and values are allow me elevate my practice
making me a better nurse to serve my patients and their families. Secondly,
learning the differences between religion and spirituality has also cleared up
some misconceptions I had. There have been a lot of additional components

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

7
of this class that I can use in my daily practice and knowing what I know
now, that spirituality is an intricate part of caring for the whole individual
gives my previous thoughts about the power of spirituality more meaning
than ever. I enjoyed learning about others cultures and spiritual practices is
something I can refer back to in the future. The input you had in the
discussions and reading others post about spirituality was a bonus to this
course. Thank you for your guidance and providing a positive learning
environment, I would gladly recommend this course to my peers without
hesitation.

References:

Barnum, B.S. (2011). Spirituality in Nursing: The challenges of complexity.

(3rd Ed).New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Young, C., & Koopsen, C. (2011). Spirituality, Health and Healing: An
Integrated Approach. (2nd Ed) Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett
Publishers.

SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING FINAL LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

Evaluation
This reflective journal was a great way to express the course learnings over
the semester. I believe that it helped me gain a better understanding of the
content which improved my knowledge and allowed me to develop new ideas
and use these new skills to elevate my professional practice .Therefore,
because my journal was complete, the content sufficient and reflections were
thoughtful I would give myself a 95. Thank You.