Patients' perceptions of spirituality and the nurse as a spiritual care provider.

This qualitative study explored patients' perceptions of spirituality and of the nurse as a spiritual care provider. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 adults older than 21, who were living at home, and had been discharged from the hospital within the past 3 months having had at least a 5-day length of stay. Participants agreed that during their hospitalization, nurses were kind and caring but these behaviors were not perceived as spiritual care.

Nurses enhance performance through prayer.

Prayer can be empowering for performance enhancement. Researchers drew conclusions from a larger study that employed triangulation of research methods and a random sample of 1000 nurses to describe spiritual perspectives, interventions, and attitudes of nurses in the United States. This article describes the nurses' prayerful activities.