scholarly journals Existential Dimension and Spiritual Assistance in the “A. Gemelli” University Hospital in Rome: A Cross-Disciplinary and Sacramental Enhanced Dynamical Approach in Palliative Care

Religions ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Alessandro Mantini ◽  
Maria Adelaide Ricciotti ◽  
Eleonora Meloni ◽  
Anita Maria Tummolo ◽  
Sabrina Dispenza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Health Personnel ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Palliative Care Teams ◽  
Level Of Training ◽  
Existential Dimension

In the A. Gemelli university hospital in Rome, the presence of highly specialized inter-professional palliative care teams and spiritual assistants who are dedicated to their role in the service of inpatients is valuable to person-centered healthcare. Spiritual needs are commonly experienced by patients with sudden illness, chronic conditions, and life-limiting conditions, and, consequently, spiritual care is an intrinsic and essential component of palliative care. This paper focuses on the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to demonstrate the importance of spiritual care as an integral part of palliative care and highlights the need for all interdisciplinary team members to address spiritual issues in order to improve the holistic assistance to the patient. Over a 3-year period (October 2018–September 2021), data about the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick administered by the hospitaller chaplaincy were collected. A total of 1541 anointings were administered, with an average of 514 anointings per year, excluding reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 98% of cases, the sacrament was requested by health personnel, and in 96% of cases, the same health personnel participated in the sacrament. These results demonstrate that, at the A. Gemelli polyclinic in Rome, the level of training that the care team has received in collaboration with the chaplains has generated a good generalized awareness of the importance of integrating the spiritual needs of patients and their families into their care, considering salvation as well as health, in a model of dynamic interprofessional integration.

scholarly journals Narrative and Palliative Care Team Identity Formation

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Hess
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Palliative Care Team ◽  
Care Team ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Team Identity ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Palliative Care Teams

Palliative care is whole person care that attends to the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of persons with a serious or life-limiting illness. This care is provided by a team of clinicians from several disciplines including physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains. The palliative care team functions as a dynamic system whose ability to provide quality care is dependent upon the ability of the team members to form and maintain an ongoing collaborative alliance. This alliance requires that team members maintain dual commitments to both the care receivers and to their fellow team members. Just as persons with illness express the human propensity toward meaning making in the face of suffering, so palliative care teams thrive when they are supported in reflective processes that enhance their ability to find meaning in their work. Creation of and attention to team narratives and their role in team identity formation can enhance team members’ flourishing by placing team identity in the context of a larger story. Narratives of rescuing and fixing foster a sense of control and expertise while narratives of containing and healing nurture attention to mindful presence and human-to-human encounter.

The role of the chaplain in palliative care

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Handzo ◽  
Christina Puchalski
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Model Of Care ◽  
Care Specialist ◽  
Palliative Care Teams ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Care Models ◽  
Spiritual Issues

Spirituality has been shown to be a key factor in how people understand illness and how they cope with suffering. It is especially important for people who have serious or chronic illness. Standards for palliative care include spiritual care as a required domain of palliative care. Models and recommendations have been developed to facilitate interprofessional spiritual care where all members of the team attend to the spiritual issues of patients with the professional chaplain being the expert in spiritual care in a generalist specialist model of care. Palliative care teams should have a professional chaplain with training in palliative care assigned. This chaplain functions as the spiritual care lead and the spiritual care specialist on the team.

The Existential Dimension of Palliative Care: The Mirror Effect of Death on Life

2020 ◽  
pp. 003022282095218
Author(s):  
Frédérique Drillaud ◽  
Camille Saussac ◽  
Florence Keusch ◽  
Danièle Lafaye ◽  
Hélène Bely ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Mirror Effect ◽  
Palliative Care Unit ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
Existential Suffering ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Existential Dimension ◽  
Spiritual Suffering ◽  
Insight Into

The WHO has included the spiritual dimension in its definition of palliative care since 1990, but this dimension is frequently confused with notions of religion. Yet, the spiritual suffering experienced by palliative care patients is primarily a matter of existential suffering. The objective of this study was to examine the ways in which the existential dimension was manifested in the experiences of those present in a palliative care unit. This anthropological monograph was conducted in a palliative care unit in a French University Hospital. The existential dimension appears to reside in the connections between individuals and the proximity of death appears to shed new light on the meaning of life. The mirror effect of death on life, could serve to encourage greater appreciation of the value of our connections with others, and the desire to take care of others, which offers new insight into forms of solidarity and social organisation.

Integration of spiritual care into palliative care service delivery models

2021 ◽  
pp. 1072-1080
Author(s):  
Yvan Beaussant ◽  
Alexandra Nichipor ◽  
Tracy A. Balboni
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Palliative Care Team ◽  
Care Team ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Care Provision ◽  
Serious Illness ◽  
Palliative Care Teams ◽  
Religious Dimensions

Addressing spirituality within serious illness is a core dimension of palliative care delivery. However, spiritual care frequently lacks integration within the care of patients and families facing serious illness. This chapter discusses the integration of spiritual care into palliative care delivery. Requisite to this integration is a clear understanding of definitions and palliative care guidelines informing spiritual care provision. Furthermore, integration is informed and motivated by a large body of evidence showing how spiritual and religious factors frequently play salient roles in serious illness and influence palliative care outcomes. The integration of spiritual care into palliative care practice relies on a generalist–specialist model, within which all members of the interdisciplinary palliative care team are responsible for spiritual care provision. Non-spiritual care specialist members of the palliative care team are responsible for generalist spiritual care delivery, including taking spiritual histories and screening for spiritual needs. The care team also includes spiritual care specialists, typically board-certified chaplains, who provide in-depth spiritual care delivery to patients and families and aid the care team in understanding the spiritual and religious dimensions of care. Additionally, data regarding tested spiritual care interventions are discussed as potential tools palliative care teams can employ to improve patient care and outcomes. Finally, the integration of spiritual care into palliative care teams presents both opportunities and challenges that must be considered as efforts needed to foster more seamless spiritual care delivery within palliative care.

scholarly journals Multidisciplinary Training on Spiritual Care for Patients in Palliative Care Trajectories Improves the Attitudes and Competencies of Hospital Medical Staff: Results of a Quasi-Experimental Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep van de Geer ◽  
Nic Veeger ◽  
Marieke Groot ◽  
Hetty Zock ◽  
Carlo Leget ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Multicenter Trial ◽  
Teaching Hospitals ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Objectives: Patients value health-care professionals’ attention to their spiritual needs. However, this is undervalued in health-care professionals’ education. Additional training is essential for implementation of a national multidisciplinary guideline on spiritual care (SC) in palliative care (PC). Aim of this study is to measure effects of a training program on SC in PC based on the guideline. Methods: A pragmatic multicenter trial using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design as part of an action research study. Eight multidisciplinary teams in regular wards and 1 team of PC consultants, in 8 Dutch teaching hospitals, received questionnaires before training about perceived barriers for SC, spiritual attitudes and involvement, and SC competencies. The effect on the barriers on SC and SC competencies were measured both 1 and 6 months after the training. Results: For nurses (n = 214), 7 of 8 barriers to SC were decreased after 1 month, but only 2 were still after 6 months. For physicians (n = 41), the training had no effect on the barriers to SC. Nurses improved in 4 of 6 competencies after both 1 and 6 months. Physicians improved in 3 of 6 competencies after 1 month but in only 1 competency after 6 months. Significance of Results: Concise SC training programs for clinical teams can effect quality of care, by improving hospital staff competencies and decreasing the barriers they perceive. Differences in the effects of the SC training on nurses and physicians show the need for further research on physicians’ educational needs on SC.

scholarly journals Staff Perceptions of How Music Therapy Can Support Palliative Care Patients in a New Zealand / Aotearoa Hospice, with a Particular Focus on Spiritual Care

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keryn Squires
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Over Time

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of staff from a hospice, in New Zealand / Aotearoa, regarding the use of music therapy in the care of dying patients. The study has a particular focus on spiritual aspects of palliative care in music therapy, as spirituality is an inherent aspect of the work done by caregivers in palliative care. Hospice staff were asked to reflect on what they knew and understood of music therapy before, and after, a music therapy student arrived at the hospice, and their narratives were explored to uncover the links between patients, music and spirituality. The aim of this was to identify what might be needed to increase knowledge, to improve referral processes, and to increase opportunities for collaborative team work. A cross-section of staff, i.e. two nurses, one doctor, an occupational therapist, and a counsellor, who were part of the palliative care team, were recruited to participate in two semi-structured interviews to discuss their perceptions of the potential for music therapy to support the spiritual needs of hospice patients. A qualitative approach was employed and narrative analysis was used to interpret the interviews. Narrative research emphasises the language of human understanding and in this research it involved gathering participants' 'stories' of their evolving perceptions over time. Findings suggest the language used to describe spiritual care in music therapy was different for each participant although common meanings were drawn from the participants' stories. Commonalities included: music therapy in the hospice was valued by the participants; some participants would like more knowledge to make an informed referral. In addition, staff understanding appeared to have increased over time partly due to educational seminars, sharing at team meetings, actual exposure to music therapy, informal conversations with staff, and participants' growing knowledge of music therapy through their own personal process of learning.</p>

scholarly journals Developing a spiritual care model for patients and their relatives in illness

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (spe) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Georgina Oliveira de Góes ◽  
Maria da Graça de Oliveira Crossetti
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Care Model ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Nursing Team ◽  
South Of Brazil ◽  
Theoretical Results

ABSTRACT Objective: To develop a spiritual care model for patients and their relatives in illness. Methodology: A qualitative study that uses Symbolic Interactionism as theoretical framework, and the Grounded Theory designed by Charmaz as methodological framework. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 10 participants, and the Model was validated by an expertise group, from march to may 2016, at a University Hospital in the South of Brazil. When analyzing the data, the following codifications were made: initial, focalized, axial and theoretical. Results: The categories that structured the Model were the following: Situating spirituality in their daily lives; Exercising spirituality in life; Perceiving the role of the nursing team in spiritual care; Identifying the manifestations of spiritual needs; Placing spirituality as a priority in care and Re- signifying the illness process. Conclusion: Developing the model has enabled us to achieve a conceptual understanding and interpretation of spiritual care in nursing and to draw up the connections among the nursing team, the patients and their relatives.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document