Exploration of Nurses’ Experience in Spiritual Care Needs: A Qualitative Study

Spiritual care is an integral and fundamental aspect of care where the nurse shows concern for the patient. Spiritual care nurses focus on respecting patients, being friendly, showing sympathetic interaction, listening attentively and giving strength to patients in the face of their illness. One example of the implementation of spiritual care in patients in Islamic perspective is provide the patients to pray, recite Al-Qur'an, guide and direct patients. This study aims to explore the experience of nurses in applying spiritual care consisting of the role of nurses and the obstacles of nurses in applying spiritual care. This study is qualitative study by using a phenomenological design. The data collection method used in-depth interviews. Participants in this study were implementing nurses in the Inpatient Ward and Intensive Care Unit of eight participants selected by purposive sampling technique. Data were collected in the form of interviews and field notes analyzed using the Colaizzi method. The results of this study found two themes, namely the active role of nurses in applying spiritual care, and obstacles for nurses in spiritual care needs. The role of nurses in spiritual care needs in this hospital is still not optimal due to lack of training, no rewards and inadequate infrastructure for the implementation of spiritual care.