Finding spirituality and nursing presence: the student's challenge.

Full Abstract

The concepts of spirituality and nursing presence are difficult for nursing students to comprehend, identify, and apply. Yet holistic nursing practice obligates nurse educators to teach students about these abstract concepts. The purpose of this article is to describe a nursing faculty's approach to encourage baccalaureate students to explore and develop an understanding of the concepts of spirituality and nursing presence in light of their clinical practice. A clinical placement in a faith-based community crisis center for the poor and homeless is part of a semester-long, psychiatric/mental health clinical course. At the crisis-center day shelter, students (N = 188) develop an interactive advocacy relationship with the clients and witness both spiritual care and nursing presence. Seminar-driven, topic-focused discussions foster reflective thinking application of these difficult concepts. Without exception, the students affirm that this is an experience of self-discovery and maturation in understanding spirituality and nursing presence in nursing practice.

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Author information

Author/s: Rankin, Elizabeth A (EA); Delashmutt, Mary B (MB);

Affiliation: Salisbury University, Maryland, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association (J Holist Nurs), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Dec; vol 24 (issue 4) : pp 282-8

Dates: Created 2006/11/13; Completed 2007/02/08;

PMID: 17098882, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Clinical Competence - standards
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - organization & administration
Holistic Health
Holistic Nursing - education; standards
Humans

Humans
Interprofessional Relations
Nursing Faculty Practice - organization & administration
Spirituality
Students, Nursing - psychology

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