What are the barriers to spiritual care in a hospital setting?

Spiritual care is a vital component of care that is given to patients by health professionals in order to prevent poor health and treat illness. It is fundamental to patients' wellbeing and nurses' integrity that nurses carry out their care in a holistic manner and meet patients' spiritual needs. However, a number of studies show that health professionals are failing to meet patients' spiritual needs while in hospital. Nurses are unable to fulfil patients' spiritual needs for a variety of reasons. The main barriers to spiritual care are the difficulty in defining spirituality; the lack of clear guidelines for the nurse's role in providing spiritual care; nurses' lack of time to provide spiritual care; and a lack of training and education on spirituality for pre- and post-registration nurses.