Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics

Background and Objectives: Understanding and meeting the religious needs of patients could lead to the satisfaction and promotion in religious care. This study aimed to explore the patients’ religious expectations of nurses.
Methods: Researchers used a conventional approach to content analysis in this study. Eighteen patients (11 men and 7 women) purposefully were selected with maximum variation from different wards of Shahid Beheshti hospital, Qom, Iran. In depth semi structured interviews were continued until data saturation. The data were analyzed with constant comparative method.
Results: The main themes of patients’ religious expectations of nurses were: providing holistic care, moralization, nursing sincerely, patience with patients and their relatives, respect for the beliefs of patients, planning for nursing interventions according to the prayer time, removing barriers and providing facilities for prayer.
Conclusion: The results showed that participants need to holistic care. It is therefore essential to nurses be aware of patients’ needs in care planning.