THE ROLE OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN PROVIDING SPIRITUAL CARE TO PATIENTS: A CASE OF TAMALE CENTRAL HOSPITAL

Abstract

Spiritual care is care which recognizes and responds to the needs of the human spirit when faced with trauma, ill health or sadness, and can include the need for meaning, for self-worth, to express oneself, for faith, support and perhaps for rites, prayer, sacrament or simply for a sensitive listener. The study assessed the role of health care providers in providing the emotional and spiritual needs of the patients in the adult wards of the Tamale Central Hospital. The study adopted the mix method approach which uses both quantitative and Qualitative methods. Primary and secondary sources of data were used to seek information for the research. Quantitative approached was also adopted to analyze the data. Using Likert scale values, the study reveals a mean value of 4.04 meaning nurses regularly listen actively to patients talk about their religious/spiritual beliefs, strengths, and beliefs about God. Data from the study further reveal that nurses regularly give patients or care takers the opportunity to talk about God and support coming from God. The study further revealed the following as the barrier to providing emotional/spiritual care to patients admitted to the adult ward of the hospital; Because of different beliefs of the staffs and the patients, most of the patients do not believe in superstition, lack of communication skills in giving this care, Lack of pastors and imams in the hospitals, Multiple beliefs of the patients. Thus, it is recommended that policy makers like the government and the Ghana health service should be encouraged to capture the spiritual needs of patients in the management protocols. The Tamale central hospital should employ health provisional who are well verse in spiritual health care provision in the hospital. The hospital should employ an Imam and a Pastor to help the healthcare providers in taking care of the spiritual needs of the patient.