workforce
Spiritual care
comes to light
New published guidelines provide ways for staff to help older
people find and maintain meaning, connections in their lives.
By Colleen Doyle, David Jackson, Hannah Capon and Elizabeth Pringle
N
urses are at the frontline of
residential aged care and of caring
for older people in their own
homes. ANMF figures state that there were
more than 13,000 RNs and 11,000 enrolled
nurses working in residential aged care
in 2012.
Nurses remain dominant in senior
and care manager roles today, but their
numbers have been reduced. Those still in
such positions bear responsibility for the
clinical standards maintained in aged care.
In Australia, these standards have been
among the highest in the world but they
have not included national guidelines for
spiritual care in these settings, until now.
Spiritual care is not just for
religious people or clergy. It means
allowing older people to maintain purpose
and meaning in their lives at any stage,
whether through connection with a god
or a higher being, or via connection with
meaningful people or things around them.
There are many ways to define
spirituality. One definition is that it’s