Spiritual Assessment for Integrated Healthcare Plans

Spiritual assessments are being integrated by many health institutions such as hospitals, home health care, long term facilities, and behavioral health settings. In each of these areas comes a point in a patient’s health journey which they may call on other entities for support. Facilitating these needs for patients enhances the outlook on medical treatments. According to Hodge (2013), "Administering a spiritual assessment, as part of a larger bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessment, provides a more holistic understanding of clients' realities, which in turn provides the basis for subsequent practice decisions (p. 223)." Spiritual assessment tools are beneficial for health care workers to identify earlier in a patient’s care how spiritual support can be incorporated in their care plans. Every patient should be made aware the line of communication in this essential topic is open with their health providers. In doing so it helps create a better trusting patient provider relationship.

Assessment Summary

The author of this essay conducted a six question assessment on a twenty-six year old Hispanic male. The questions were verbally presented to the participant and the author transcribed the spoken answers. These questions consist of topics that covered expression of spirituality, internal support, spiritual community, support during illness, beliefs in healing, and medical restrictions. The participant clearly states his religion as Catholic. He practices his faith by prayer to God and Jesus Christ. Further identified was the special meanings of a crucifix that is worn for means of protection by God and Christ from evil. This male does not attend mass regularly unless it is to support his loved ones. He also expresses that his faith in ...

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...ght for healthcare providers to incorporate into a patient’s care plan. For instance, allowing time for a patient to pray alone or with family to gain strength to heal, respecting religious symbols that offers protection, and knowing who the patient relies on for support and have them contacted as soon as possible. This assessment tool was found to be simple and easy to utilize during a patient interview. Furthermore, the assessment opens up a new line of communication that can help build a trusting relationship, which benefits both the patient and provider.

Works Cited

Hodge, D. (2013). Implicit Spiritual Assessment: An Alternative Approach for Assessing Client Spirituality. Social Work, 58(3), 223-230.

Narayanasamy, A. (2004). Spiritual care. The puzzle of spirituality for nursing: a guide to practical assessment. British Journal Of Nursing, 13(19), 1140-1144