Theory of Spiritual Care for Nursing Practice

The author's purpose is to address the issue of establishing the nursing
practice of holistic care in hospitals and similar health care agencies as well
as in educational programs. The theory of spiritual care for nursing is offered
to provide guidance and structure to this effort. Incorporating spirituality
into one's own nursing practice or for the entire nursing staff at an agency is
probably a most pressing and intangible task facing nursing today. This text
is not the fi nal answer, but is offered to provide one perspective that may
provide direction for an ecumenical approach and serve as a theoretical guide
for nurse educators in teaching spiritual care to nursing students as well as for
nursing leaders and their nursing staff in developing a plan of implementation
appropriate to an individual agency.