NewsLine - May 2011 - (Page 24)

continued from previous page Spiritual Care: A Physician’s Perspective By Barry M. Kinzbrunner, MD I t is well established that quality end-of-life care requires an interdisciplinary model of care that addresses not only the physical, but the psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and families. For physicians who are, for the most part, scientists by nature and training, the spiritual component of comprehensive end-of-life care is probably the most challenging to fully grasp. This is due, at least in part, to difficulties in defining exactly what spiritual care truly means, the lack of objectivity that is inherent in the nature of spiritual care, and a significant disconnect between how patients and families view the importance of spiritual care and how it is viewed by the physicians who care for them. What is Spiritual Care? The word spiritual is derived from the Latin spiritus, which means “breath.” However, spirituality, which means matters of the spirit, is the term most often used to describe one’s association with the “spiritual.” But what exactly is spirituality? Herein lies the challenge. For in a comprehensive literature review performed in 2002, at least 92 different definitions of spirituality were found, which, fortunately, could be coned down into seven common themes: relationship to a higher power or reality greater than self; not of the self; transcendence or connectedness unrelated to a higher being; not of the material world; meaning and purpose of life; life force for the person; and summative definitions that combined two or more of the six themes already delineated.1 Of these themes, there are two that would seem to oppose one another: “relationship to a higher power” and “transcendence or connectedness unrelated to a higher being.” In other words, what is the role, if any, of God or religion in spirituality and, therefore, in spiritual care? Kearny and Mount2 define religion and spirituality separately, with the former being “a dimension of personhood...a part of our being” while the latter is “a construct of human making that… enables conceptualization and expression of spirituality.” What is interesting is that, in essence, they define religion as a way of expressing, and hence, a subset of spirituality. The idea that religion may be one of a number of ways of expressing spirituality is further demonstrated by the final two statements in the definition of spirituality in the Scottish National Health Service 24 NewsLine http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/01/30110659/18

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NewsLine - May 2011

POLST: An Evidence-based Tool for Advance Care Planning
A Message From Don
ICD-10: It’s Time to Begin Preparing
26th MLC Supporters (display ad)
Experience the ACHC Difference (display ad)
LifeBeat at Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care
Introducing NHPCO’s Custom Print Marketplace (display ad)
Voice of NCHPP: Spiritual Care: A Physician’s Perspective
NCHPP: Getting Involved
Recruiting Problems? HMR (display ad)
New - Hospice MDP Summer School (display ad)
CMS Clarifies Aspects of the Face-to-Face Encounter
Harvest: A New Film That Will Resonate With Members
Member News and Notes
Upcoming Educational Offerings
Cover 2

NewsLine - May 2011