Dr Josephine Attard, the Head of the Department of Midwifery at the University of Malta, has co-edited a new Springer publication titled 'Enhancing Nurses’ and Midwives’ Competence in Providing Spiritual Care Through Innovative Education and Compassionate Care'.
The other two co-authors are Wilfred McSherry and Adam Boughey.
The book provides a dynamic and interactive text that has been co-produced by leading experts in the fields of nursing and midwifery practice, education and research, while offering a unique resource for nursing and midwifery educators and students, helping them develop a new awareness and enhance their expertise in the area of spiritual care.
It also reports the outcomes of an Erasmus+ K2 Strategic Partnership project that involved over 40 nursing and midwifery educators, key stakeholders and students from 18 European countries including the University of Malta.
The work of a nurse or midwife can be challenging, and clinical environments can be busy demanding places in which to work, and it can be all too easy to rush from one job to another and forget about the person receiving care. For them it is anything but routine and is uniquely stressful. The content of this book reminds the reader that even in a busy clinical environment it is essential to make time to connect with the human being receiving care and have meaningful conversations with that person about what matters to them. This is the art of caring: to see past the tasks and see the person beneath.
This book is the first of its kind, addressing key issues in the teaching and learning of spirituality and spiritual care in the context of nursing and midwifery practice. The content is based on the outcomes of a European-wide project (EPICC) that brought together leading nursing and midwifery educators and practitioners from 21 countries.
It highlights the importance of ensuring student nurses and midwives receive sufficient educational preparation to provide spiritual/person-centred care. In turn, the book puts forward an innovative and creative approach to the teaching of spiritual/person-centred care, based on an evaluation of best practice across Europe. The content and activities presented will enable nursing and midwifery educators to acquire new knowledge/skills for learning about and teaching on the personal, religious and spiritual aspects of person-centred care. Both interactive and engaging, it will equip nursing and midwifery students to holistically address the needs of the people they care for.
