Deans of Catholic nursing schools worry that a heightened emphasis on technical proficiency and scientific acumen has had the unintended consequence of deemphasizing the spiritual essence of compassionate nursing care.

Dr. Christina M. Puchalski said that scientific advances have overshadowed the art of medicine and nursing, placing less importance on the clinician-patient relationship. There is mounting evidence that attention to the whole patient is critical for good care. A good nurse needs both technical and spiritual proficiency, she said, adding that the two can meet in nursing curriculums that incorporate spiritual training.

Deans of Catholic nursing schools recognize this and are making efforts to inject spirituality into their curriculums. When they met at a CHA-sponsored breakfast in late March, the deans were eager to learn how others integrate spirituality into nursing education. The deans were in Washington, D.C., to attend a meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Puchalski, executive director and founder of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, spoke at the CHA event. She said in an interview that the deans had strong ideas for making immediate progress such as incorporating lessons on spirituality in existing ethics classes.

Peggy Matteson, RN, chair of the department of nursing at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., said in an interview that it is natural to inject spirituality into nursing courses."We know that people need care of body, mind and spirit simultaneously. In our childbirth course, we talk about the spiritual aspects of life and birth. And in our end-of-life course, we talk about how to deal with spiritual death and how you help a patient have a healthy death."

Julie Trocchio, CHA's senior director of continuing care ministries and a board member of the spirituality and health institute, said that attention to the spirit is an essential part of caring for the whole person. "Any of us who has seen someone we care for in a serious illness knows that issues about the meaning of illness, relationships, and even life and death, weigh on their minds. When nurses, physicians and other caregivers are sensitive to these concerns, their compassionate and empathetic care is healing to patients even if a cure is not possible."

Sr. Rosemary Donley, SC, directs community and public health nursing at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She said in an interview that more nursing students are expressing an interest in spirituality. Even students who are disinterested in religion may be open to spiritual instruction. "Younger nursing students see death and dying and bad things happen to people that ordinary college students don't normally see. It makes them grow up faster and think about the meaning of life.

"This creates an opportunity for faculty to use the students' interest in spirituality and show them how nursing is a wonderful place to address the spiritual needs of the patients," Sr. Donley said.

The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., advocates addressing the emotional, physical, social and spiritual aspects in physician education. Puchalski said the Catholic university nursing school deans want to partner with the institute to undertake a similar initiative with nursing schools.

The institute joined with the Association of American Medical Colleges to successfully promote the acceptance of spirituality in medical school curriculums. Puchalski said that more than 75 percent of medical schools teach spirituality and health. "It has essentially become a recognized field in medicine," she said. Puchalski told the deans that to further spirituality in nursing education, the institute would seek a similar collaboration with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing with the goal of developing learning objectives and curricula.

Beverly Lunsford, RN, the institute's associate director, said that while many nursing students say they already incorporate spirituality in care, patients may have a different perspective on whether their spiritual needs are being met. "In reality, we teach the functional tasks like wound care, vital care, post-op care, etc. But, when it comes to building relationships and listening to patients, sometimes it happens only when nurses have the time. It is not always given top priority."

Sr. Donley said that nursing students of all religious backgrounds should be taught the importance of spirituality as part of the healing process of patients.

"Nurses have a full range of responsibilities with the patients," she said. "But they also have to be willing to be with them spirituality. Pray with them. Be willing to talk to them. Listen to their spiritual and religious concerns and try to relieve the suffering."