Which of the following statements made by a nurse regarding spiritual

Which of the following statements made by a nurse regarding spiritual support provided displays an inappropriate intervention or attitude?

1. “I offer to pray with my clients as I prepare them for transport to surgery.”
2. “I always try to tell my Catholic clients when Mass is being held in the chapel.”
3. “When caring for a client for the first time, I always check to see their religious affiliation.”
4. “I’m not very comfortable interviewing a client concerning their religious beliefs or practices.”

ANSWER

ANS: 1
It is essential to promote an environment that respects clients’ values, customs, and spiritual be-liefs. Routinely implementing nursing interventions such as prayer or meditation is coercive and/or unethical. Therefore determine which interventions are compatible with the clients’ beliefs and values before selecting nursing interventions. To routinely offer to pray with a client without first establishing the appropriateness of that intervention is unethical and so requires immediate instruction of that to the nurse. Two options are not inappropriate and so require no intervention while the third reflects the nurse’s discomfort with a task but does not indicate any failure to provide effective, appropriate nursing care.