Evaluating the Spiritual Needs of Patients

Spirituality Assessment Interview

Part 1: Faith and Beliefs.

$1a) What beliefs give meaning to your life?

$1b) Do you practice religion or any other form of spirituality?

Part 2: Meaning and Purpose.

$1a) Do you participate in any spiritual practices (for example fasting, yoga, meditation, chanting)?

$1b) How significant is your faith and spiritual experiences (dreams, miracles, and other mystical experiences)?

Part 3: Community.

$1a) Do you subscribe to a religious spiritual community?

Part 4: Application.

$1a) How should I address these issues in preparing your health plan?

$1b) How might these things relate to your condition?

$1c) How can we help you in terms of spiritual care?

1. Summary of Findings

In order, to plan adequately for health care, knowledge of religious influences is essential (Hallenbeck, 2003). The paper analyzes the spiritual assessment of a patient admitted in a hospital due to chronic heart disease. She is a practicing Muslim from Boston, in Massachusetts. The idea that gives her life meaning is the fact that Allah (God) is the source of life. The patient practices the Muslim rituals fasting, ritual prayer, pilgrimage, alms tax, and confession of faith. These, according to her, are the foundations of Islam. Her religious experiences, which include revelation of various signs of God, are significant in that they provide guidance for the progress of life. The patient believes that personal, religious experiences are signs that facilitate communication with God. The patient participates in religion as a member of the Islamic community. In her state of illness, religion is significant because God grants mercy, forgives, and heals. She requests that the hospital provide her with a secluded place where she can make prayers to God daily.

2. Significant Discoveries.

The assessment is a vital lesson for gaining knowledge on the spiritual needs of patients necessary for the plan of care. Spirituality instills in patients the sense of unconditional love and acceptance (Renard, 1982). In spite of the challenging status of disease, patients find love and acceptance through prayer. This is difficult in situations that involve loneliness and rejection characteristic of the hospital environment. It allows them to connect with the self and others. In spirituality, we express respect and love. In search of the divine nature of prayer, people practice rituals and participate in the communal rites. They find life’s meaning and purpose, in religion and spirituality. They discover the meaning of life and personal experiences. Religion is the source of hope, enjoyment of life, laughter, and calm. It is a way that patients connect with nature. In the worst case scenarios, religion provides a means for resolution for patients facing the brink of death. It addresses the mysteries of life and death. It provides comfort needed to cope with the pain of the physical being. People come to terms with disease and accept the fateful occurrence of death. In these situations, people resolve issues and offer forgiveness. It provides patients the right and capacity for decision making.

3. Success of the Assessment

The assessment was successful in two ways. First, it provided a platform to communicate with the patient and involve her participation in decision making. Second, it revealed information that would, otherwise, negatively impact health care planning. Patient participation in health care motivates the patient to adhere to medical prescriptions and create rapport necessary for feedback processes. This facilitates effective planning and revision of health care plans based on patient feedback.

4. Considerations for the Future

The spirituality assessment tool extracted significant information from the patient. It revealed essential information for ethics, convenience, medical therapy, and consideration for the provision of spiritual support to patients. These are vital elements of health care planning. However, the assessment was not comprehensive enough, in that it failed to include crucial questions on dietary implications of religion. For instance, it did not capture crucial information necessary for the dieticians to formulate dietary therapy plans for the chronic heart failure patient. There are some aspects of the Muslim faith that do not allow consumption of various food products such as pork. The questionnaire did not capture this significant element of health care planning. The last question that requires the patient to state how their spirituality would affect health care planning is vague. It is too general to provide information on food choices and avoidance. In the future, the spirituality assessment questionnaire should include items of questions that capture comprehensive information.

5. Limitation

Spirituality assessment is a challenging process. This is because matters of religion are complex to an interviewer who does not subscribe to the patient’s religion. There are aspects of religion that may require deep knowledge of religion, in order to understand the implications of health care actions. In addition, the chronic nature of the patient’s illness seemed to have resulted in some form of depression. This affected the quality of the interview in that the patient provided irrelevant answers to some questions.

6. Application

In health care planning, medical prescription is not the sole factor for consideration (Galek, Flannelly, Vane, & Rose, (2005). There are other considerations that are synergistic to medical therapy. Spiritual assessment provides information that guide the plan of care and promotes patient relief. Religion is dear to the heart of humans. It is the principal and, perhaps, the sole source of comfort and tolerance in times of disease. It gives the patient refuge that relieves suffering and provides consolation upon the mysteries of disease and potential death. Spirituality assessment tool is a vital tool that gathers information necessary for health care planning. It informs provision of medication, nutrition, and emotional support. Provision of emotional and spiritual support markedly enhances patients’ response to care services. Using the assessment encourages patient’s participation in health care provision. It gives the patient the vital feeling that their opinions count, and incorporates their expectation.

Reference

Galek, K., Flannelly, K., Vane, A., & Rose, G. (2005). “Assessing a Patient’s Spiritual Needs”. Holistic Nursing Practice, 19(2): 62-69.

Hallenbeck, I. (2003). “Palliative Care Perspectives”. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Renard, J. (1982). “The Foundations of Islamic Religious Experience”. Spirituality Today, 34(2):100-112.

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