Diana Marie B.

Muaa

Reflection No. 4

Ethical Boundaries of Spiritual Care

This article is about the line guidelines on performing Spiritual Care to provide a
boundary for health care professionals. The article formulated five guidelines for the ethical
borderline of Spirituality. First,

In order to provide respectful care, health care professionals should seek a basic
understanding of patients spiritual needs, resources, and preferences.

So, in my understanding, healthcare professionals are encouraged to perform Spiritual

assessment or Spirituality history assessment. They need to assess the patients current Spiritual
condition first before furthering to planning or providing any intervention. And just like in
other nursing assessment, Spiritual assessment may provide the health care professional to have
a baseline data and status of the patient in regarding to their current condition. The second one
states that,

Respect for the patient requires that health care professionals follow the patients
expressed wishes regarding spiritual care.

This part expresses the right of the patient to decide for themselves, especially in choosing care
to be provided for them. Respecting patients decision or wishes on provision of spiritual care
also let the patient have that sense of control over the things that matters in his life. The third
one states that;

Health care professionals should neither prescribe spiritual practices nor urge patients
to relinquish religious beliefs or practices.

But unlike treatments and medication, health care professionals are not encouraged to
recommend Spirituality practices to patient despite all the similarities and differences in
religion you have. Because this might really encourage the patient to choose the decision
because an authority figure suggested so. Its not really bad if it can help the patient but there
are still some religious practices that can hinder or obstruct provision of optimum health to
patients. And instead of being beneficial to the patient, Spirituality, in this part, will be
counterproductive for the patient and is not suggested. The fourth one opens that;

Health care professionals who care for the spiritual needs of patients should seek to
understand their own spirituality.

Like in Psychiatric Nursing, you cant provide the best possible Spiritual Care to a patient if
you, yourself, is not in the best shape for it. You have to make sure that your own Spirituality
needs have been met before proceeding to provision to others. As the quote may say, You
cant give what you dont have. You cant provide Spirituality if you dont have it in you.
And the last ethical consideration states that;
 Participation in spiritual care should be consonant with professional integrity.

This was stated because some professional compromise Spiritual Care for Professional
Integrity or vice versa, though its not really like that. Providing Spiritual Care should enhance
your Professional integrity and increasing your Professional integrity should improve your
Spirituality. It should be interrelated not indirectly coordinated with one another. Its a matter
of mentality, how you think of your Spirituality is what it shows. If you think too low of your
Spirituality then it will be as it is. But the best possible consideration is to think that Spiritual
Care is directly related to your professional integrity. And providing such care wont degrade
you as a health care professional.

Patients are human being treated as a whole not an macroorganism with a condition to
be treated. And as a human being, we have our body and soul that has to be treated equally.
These five guidelines provide ideals on how to cater the best Spiritual care we can possibly
give to our patientsmay they be religious or nonreligious. Because patients are our
customers, and we should give our best to provide them the best.