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Several members of Spiritual Directors International including executive director Liz Budd Ellmann, MDiv; Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD; Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, PhD; Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN; and Sharon Stanton, MS, BSN, RN served on a national consensus conference committee improving the quality of spiritual care at the end-of-life. The Special Report was published today in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Included in the report, you will see that we recommended spiritual direction as a community resource for spiritual care of patients and families. In addition, we recommended that health care providers seek spiritual direction and other forms of spiritual care as self-care for their profession. Spiritual directors and spiritual director formation program directors may be asked to offer in-service training to health care providers who are integrating spiritual care into a holistic model of end-of-life care.
The article, “Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care: The Report of the Consensus Conference,” represents the final Consensus Report of a conference sponsored by the Archstone Foundation of Long Beach, CA. According to Joseph F. Prevratil, JD, President and CEO, “The report’s recommendations seek to ensure that spiritual care is a fundamental component of quality palliative care, which strives to prevent and relieve suffering for seriously ill patients and their families.”
“For the first time we have a practical model for the implementation of inter-professional spiritual care which will result in improved healthcare outcomes for patients,” says Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, FACP, Co-Principal Investigator and lead author of the Consensus Report, from The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) at the George Washington University Medical Center.
The Consensus Report outlines seven key areas for improving spiritual care: Spiritual Care Models; Spiritual Assessment; Spiritual Treatment/Care Plans; Interprofessional Team; Training/Certification; Personal and Professional Development; and Quality Improvement. Co-authors Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, FACP, and Betty Ferrell, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, Principal Investigator from the City of Hope and colleagues from City of Hope National Medical Center present practical recommendations for implementing spiritual care in palliative care, hospice, long-term care, and other clinical settings. The guidelines provide spiritual care models, recommendations for professional training, advice on how to develop accountability measures to ensure integration of spiritual care, and guidance on engaging community clergy and spiritual leaders in the care of patients and families.
“Of the physical, emotional, practical, and spiritual dimensions of hospice and palliative medicine, spirituality has been least well addressed. This report aims to improve that situation,” says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Provost, Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice.
To read the Special Report, follow this link.
A PowerPoint presentation is available for free download from the SDI Web Library to help you communicate the value of spiritual care in palliative health care. Follow this link for the presentation and more resources about spiritual direction and health care.
Participants in the national consensus conference.
Please add your comments in the Reply section below.
10/07,2009, at 00:56
We are so glad to be able to share the report from our Consensus Conference on Improving the Quality of Spiritual care in Palliative Care. We greatly appreciate the work of Spiritual Directors and your efforts to help share the work of our conference. Betty Ferrell
10/07,2009, at 07:42
it was a powerful meeting with an important outcome. great experience of collaboration between disciplines. inspiring and diligent work to benefit those who are suffering.
10/21,2009, at 12:55
As a spiritual director and bereavement facilitator, I am gratified to see an increased collaboration between groups that serve, essentially, all people. Given the importance of spiritual care (or more existential care for those who do not identify with a particular spirituality), and the inevitability of death and it's surround, the importance of collaboration in addressing end-of-life care and spirituality, both in research, teaching and practice, cannot be understated. Kudos to those who work so diligently in this arena. Interestingly, in my "other" work as a veterinarian, these issues are in the forefront of many of my clients' experiences every day.