Collaborating With Hospital Chaplains to Meet the Spiritual Needs of Critical Care Patients.

There are many opportunities for critical-care nurses to collaborate with chaplains in an effort to provide spiritual care for patients and their families. By recognizing the educational requirements as well as the unique roles of board-certified chaplains (BCCs), the critical-care nurse will view them as respected members of the health care team. This collaboration positively impacts the work environment and creates a holistic space for healing for patients, as well as the health care team. As nurses, we must educate and inform novice nurses about the important role of BCCs on the interdisciplinary health care team. Critical-care nurses need to incorporate the BCCs' contributions into the patient plan of care during bedside report in a way that helps the nurse understand the connection between the patient's spiritual health and his/her experience as a patient.

What lies within: phenomenology and intuitive self-knowledge.

This article discusses the significance of intuitiveness as a component of phenomenological knowing and demonstrates how this way of knowing may exist independently of or coexist collaboratively with rationality and evidence-based practice. By using a holistic approach to knowing, nurses use clinical reasoning skills to prevent adverse patient outcomes from failure to diagnose problems, to establish appropriate treatments, and/or to deal with complications. As the complexity of health care escalates, health care providers must strive to think holistically to advance knowledge and contribute to their discipline. The discipline of nursing requires holistic thought and innovative interventions.

A call to action: nursing education must embrace change and move forward.

Nursing and medical educators are challenged by the education-practice gap and look for ways to smooth the transition and prepare our graduates for practice. Clinical practitioners believe that education does not keep pace with the demands in the clinical setting. This article highlights educational challenges, and-where relevant-will compare and contrast these challenges in nursing education with those taking place in medical education and will present creative admission requirements and teaching strategies.

Student nurse dyads create a community of learning: proposing a holistic clinical education theory.

AIMS: This paper is a report of a qualitative study of students' experiences of cooperative learning in the clinical setting. BACKGROUND: Although cooperative learning is often used successfully in the classroom, it has not been documented in the clinical setting with sophomore nursing students being paired with other sophomore nursing students. METHODS: Using a grounded theory methodology a sample of 64 participants (32 student nurse dyads, eight clinical groups, in two different acute care institutions) were observed on their first day in the clinical setting while working as cooperative partners. Interviews were also conducted with students, patients and staff preceptors. Data were collected in the fall of 2008, spring and fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010 using semi-structured interviews and reflective surveys. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. RESULTS/FINDINGS: A holistic clinical education theory for student nurses was identified from the data. This theory includes a reciprocal relationship among five categories relevant to a community of learning: supportive clinical experience; improved transition into practice; enhanced socialization into the profession; increased accountability and responsibility; and emergence of self-confidence as a beginning student nurse. CONCLUSION: The use of student dyads creates a supportive learning environment while students were able to meet the clinical learning objectives. Cooperative learning in the clinical setting creates a community of learning while instilling very early in the education process the importance of teamwork. This approach to clinical instruction eases the transition from the classroom to the clinical learning environment, and improves patient outcomes.

Spirituality: a dimension of holistic critical care nursing.

Although many patients face significant physical needs, their mind and spirit may be ill as well. Three facets make up an individual: physical, mental, and spiritual. To provide optimal holistic care, the critical care nurse must take into consideration each of these three aspects. But most importantly, the critical care nurse must recognize that spiritual care begins with oneself. Spirituality is one such area of patient care that, when addressed, can reap positive benefits for both the client and the healthcare provider. This article explores all aspects of spirituality for the critical care nurse.

The disease process of spinal cord injuries: a case study reflecting holistic nursing management.

There are more than 10,000 cases of traumatic spinal cord injuries each year in the United States. The systemic injuries, along with nursing care, will be presented in this article.