HEALTH & WELLNESS
PROFESSIONAL SPIRITUALITY How spiritual wellness relates to positive coping mechanisms By: CHRISTIE PENA
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any health care professionals seek their strength and knowledge from a book, a mentor or a research article. While this is a great practice, I find my strength from a much higher and more powerful source. After working for many years in the health care industry, I have come to realize that it can be emotionally draining if spiritual soundness is not established. Providing one-on-one care to clients, supporting a fellow coworker, administering guidance as a leader and meeting expectations as a subordinate – all of these require me to pour myself out and into others emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. While doing so is rewarding, there have been times in my career where I have felt depleted and unsure if I had anything meaningful left to offer others. Through these challenging times, the realization came to me that I was dipping into an empty bucket. The only way to perform better at my job was through wellness and wholeness in spirituality. The complexity of decision making as a health care professional is also frequently burdensome. Whether it is a decision that pertains to an ethical situation with a client or changes to an organizational workflow, there is often peace that transcends the difficulty when wellness in a holistic approach is implemented in everyday life. Reaching out and relying on a source that is greater than myself helps me view life through a lens that is beyond my miniscule struggles. This allows me to perform my work to a capacity that will make a positive impact to those facing pain or a dire prognosis, and helps me carry the burden of caring for a sick relative or perhaps the death of a loved one. Discovering the importance of my spiritual well-being has provided a guide in making decisions for the greater good. It also allows me to incorporate healthy coping skills when final decisions may cause dissatisfaction to a select few. When nurses learn to incorporate healthy coping mechanisms beyond prescribed medications, it opens knowledge that can be distributed to the patient’s health assessments and interventions. Spiritual assessments are addressed in every nurse’s comprehensive assessment, but they are often underutilized when developing interventions in the plan of care. The holistic approach of nursing is often neglected when pressing physical complexities, tasks and goals invade the majority of attention provided. These obstacles can be overcome when the patient’s well-being as a whole is prioritized. Meaningful and effective care is empowered
MEANINGFUL AND EFFECTIVE CARE IS EMPOWERED WHEN HEALTH CARE WORKERS UNDERSTAND THE SPIRITUAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF CLIENTS. when nurses, along with other health care workers, understand the spiritual, physiological and emotional needs of clients. Incorporating spiritual assessments does not involve impressing religious beliefs upon another, but rather, identifying alternative coping mechanisms by way of asking open-ended questions. Lippincott Nursing Center provides a nursing journal addressing spiritual assessment using the acronym, “FICA.” You can easily follow this model by asking the following questions: F: Faith or beliefs What are your spiritual beliefs? Do you consider yourself spiritual? What things do you believe in that give meaning to life? I: Importance and influence Is faith/spirituality important to you? How has your illness and/or hospitalization affected your personal practices /beliefs? C: Community Are you connected with a faith center in the community? Does it provide support/comfort for you during times of stress? Is there a person, group or leader who supports you in your spirituality? A: Address What can I do for you? What support or guidance can health care provide to support your spiritual beliefs/practices? This FICA model can help anyone discover how to approach life through a healthy and holistic perspective. My passion, direction and motivation come from a higher power, and I am more disciplined in all aspects of the nursing profession because of it.
Christie Pena, R.N., is the process improvement manager at AAdi Home Health and Hospice. You may contact her at cpena@aadihh.com. For more information about AAdi’s services, call 361-452-3384.
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