Addressing Spiritual Care For Hospice Settings

I have spent the majority of my career in the ED and have recently transitioned into a management role so it has been years since I performed a spiritual assessment. However, while working on the inpatient unit, I can recall performing spiritual assessments as a part of the admission assessment. Far less detailed that the FICA spiritual assessment, the basic assessment included the patient’s religious preference, religious commitment scoring, and desire for a Chaplain during their hospital stay. Spiritual assessments relay the individual’s spiritual life history, allowing practitioners to gain multidimensional insight into family dynamics and spiritual framework (Hodge, 2001).

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

Caring for patients at the end of life is a challenging task that requires not only the consideration of the individual as a whole but also an understanding of the

4. Hodge, D. (2001). Spiritual assessment: a review of major qualitative methods and a new framework for assessing spirituality. Social Work , 203-214

Spirituality is one of the most important aspects of life to some communities, cultures, and nations. People who believe in God usually become more spiritual as they age. In American societies, the mosques and churches have older people than younger people. In most cases, we become more spiritual or at least start looking for religious answers when we are faced with a death in the family. In a study by Moremen,(2005), 26 older women who had not experienced a life changing even or recent death in their families were interviewed on their views in terms of “their place” in society” and the “order of things”. None of the participants were facing a terminal illness. The majority stated that they wanted to understand things and were looking towards

All throughout history nursing and medicine was based on the roots of Christianity. Many healthcare providers based their practices from the bible “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me” (Matthew 25:36, NIV). Furthermore, spirituality is an important aspect to remain in our nursing practice. In order to provide holistic care for our patients during their healing process, which includes body, soul, and spirit, Christianity should continue to be practiced with our patients. The purpose of this paper is to discuss my personal worldview based upon the meaning of spiritualty, worldviews, prime reality, human person, the meaning of death, epistemology, ethics, and the meaning of human

For health care providers to deliver the best holistic care that patients deserve, a thorough spiritual assessment must be included during their care. With more research showing a relationship between supporting a patient’s spirituality with their health and ability to cope with illness, it is now a requirement of organizations to include a spiritual assessment to maintain accreditation with The Joint Commission. The minimum required of a spiritual assessment by The Joint Commission is to determine the patient’s religion and

From this research article, we come to know what spiritual struggle means to us as individuals, highlight the importance of spirituality in clinical practice, and show us how veteran’s spiritual lives are impacted. For instance; their spiritual struggle may concomitantly represent different suicide risk factors and the way of handling these spiritual struggles. From one sources of definition of spirituality, it states that it is “a personal search for meaning and purpose in life, which may or may not be related to religion’’ (Tanyi, 2002).

Exploring the Phenomenon of Spiritual Care Between Hospital Chaplains and Hospital Based Healthcare Providers, written by Janie J. Taylor, Jennifer L. Hodgson, Irina Kolobova, Angela L. Lamson, Natalia Sira, and David Musick is a study conducted using hospital chaplains (HCs) and hospital-based healthcare providers (HBHPs) to discover their collective experiences with individualized spiritual care services. At the completion of the study, the researchers consolidated the collected data into six areas of focus: awareness of chaplain availability, chaplains focus on building relationships with providers and staff, chaplains are integrated in varying degrees on certain hospital units; chaplains meet providers’ personal and professional needs; providers appreciate chaplains; and barriers to expanding hospital chaplains’ services (Taylor et al., 2015, p. 96).

According to the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care, the National Quality Forum, and Sulmasy, to deliver a quality health care is to address the spiritual concerns of patients and families (as cited in Reblin et al., 2014, p. 269). However, there is little evidence to support the significance of integrating spirituality within health care, Reblin et al. examine strategies to support spirituality in health care and guide clinicians in how to communicate with patients and families (Reblin et al., 2014, p. 269). To examine, they send a hospice nurse to a home of a cancer patient, Juan, immediately after his death (Reblin et al., 2014, p. 271).

Spirituality is a delicate topic, and some may not be open to talking about their beliefs. Spirituality is generally understood to be an essential aspect of being human (Lyndo-Lam, 2012). Assessing the spiritual needs of patients is a key component in the nursing process. A compassionate and thoughtful nurse can make a patient feel more secure, making it easier for him to express his spirituality. The participation of both patient and health care provider is vital in promoting spiritual health. The main focus of a spiritual assessment is to gather information regarding the patient’s spiritual needs in order incorporate them into the plan of care, so as to treat

Spirituality is considered one of the components of health and wellness, and is a contributory factor in the delivery of holistic care (O’Shea, Wallace, Griffin, & Fitzpatrick, 2011). It only makes sense for us nurses to study and research spirituality since the nursing profession is committed to holistic development, which includes the spiritual dimension of life. However, elements such as time constraints, short staffing, insufficient formal education related to spiritual assessment and confusion between spirituality and religion have led to spirituality becoming a disregarded component of care (O’Shea et al., 2011). Adolescence is a crucial time in the development of a person’s spiritual path (Benson & Roehlkepartain, 2008). Findings showed that most adolescents hold spiritual or religious beliefs already and choose to draw on them when experiencing life-changing events. Despite this information, healthcare professionals overlook the spiritual needs of adolescents (Neuman, 2011).

In addition, “more than 60 percent of Americans say their whole approach to life is based on their religion, yet mental health care providers rarely take that into consideration” (Pew Research Center, 2007). Furthermore, “inquiries about spirituality should be performed in a competent manner by demonstrating spiritual sensitivity. In addition to an initial intake, clients should be permitted to express their spirituality and religious beliefs, in a respectful and supportive environment” (Cummins, Sevel, & Pedrick, 2012, p.195). It is also important for a social worker to know the difference between spirituality and religion because the two are often confused and it is necessary to have culture competence and culture sensitivity with clients that may have different beliefs than our

Our society finds it difficult to talk about dying and euphemisms are the norm. It is typical for both doctors and patients to be hesitant to initiate a discussion on dying. Focus instead is often more often placed on interventions and actions for managing symptoms. This avoidance can leave patients and their families unprepared for the inevitable death. (Schapira, 2010) It also often results in requests for therapies which may be excessive, costly and even painful in the hopes for a cure. One study demonstrates that when patients are aware that they are terminally ill, the majority are able to reach a state of peacefulness and also exhibit lower levels of distress. (Ray, Block, Friedlander, Zhang, Maciejewski & Prigerson, 2006) It is also important that family members are willing to discuss end-of-life options with their loved ones. According to elderly patients, they are most often the ones who initiate these conversations with their

When thinking about end of life care the research must encompass levels that are substantial for the entire family as a whole. The purpose of this study is to examine if counselors-in-training (CIT) are receiving proper teaching on the topic of discussing or integrating spirituality into practice. The research will help counselors, supervisors, and trainees who work in palliative/hospice care or areas that are more likely to experience secondhand trauma and compassion fatigue.