Spiritual Assessment Interview HLT 310

Spiritual Assessment Interview HLT 310

Spiritual Assessment Interview HLT 310

James M Curtis

Grand Canyon University: HLT 310

Spiritual Assessment Tool
In every country, there is opportunity to improve the quality and performance of the health-care system. In order for medical providers to deliver holistic care, thorough spiritual assessment should be examined during their care. Despite growing professional awareness of the importance of religion and spirituality in health, patients’ religious backgrounds and spirituality may be overlooked by physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other health care professionals (The Joint Commission, 2005). In this case, The Joint Commission requires health organizations to include a spiritual assessment to maintain accreditation so that medical providers will make an effort to seek spiritual impressions and insights about patients and their problems and how to assist them. The Joint Commission suggests some guidelines for creating spiritual assessment tools for evaluating the spiritual needs of patients. Ultimately, after using different resources I created my own tool for assessing the spiritual needs of patients while asking 5 questions that were answered by my observation.
Spiritual Assessment Tool
For many people spirituality and religion are two important dimensions of their existence and can be powerful resources in helping them achieve well-being and deal with life’s challenges. In this case, out of the six different spiritual assessment tool possibilities I decided to research the assessment F.A.C.T. I searched for a spiritual assessment tool that focused on remaining short and easy, versatile, and focused. Additionally, F.A.C.T is a great assessment tool as it allows me to obtain information on a person’s spiritual life, history, and practices and on how these affect their ability to cope with their present healthcare crisis (LaRocca-Pitts, 2012). In this case, many people use their faith or spirituality to help them cope with a health crisis. I picked FACT because it mentions a person’s faith or spiritual practice and how it affects their medical outcomes which are important in restoring spirituality back into American healthcare.

Interview
I decided to choose a lady I interviewed recently about the affordable health care act. Her name is Anita Blackwell and she is a private consultant for ADHD and pediatric nurse Practitioner with a masters in counseling and education. I chose Ms. Blackwell because she has tons of experience in health care and has been a administrator before. I wanted to interview her and get her perspective of her views on the spiritual assessment of FACT as she dealt with a medical issue that she is currently healing from.
Question #1
What is your Faith or belief? Do you consider yourself a person of Faith
or a spiritual person? What things do you believe that give your life meaning and purpose?
· “My belief is Christianity and I consider myself a women of God. I believe in the life of Jesus and the bible. As those things show me direction in life, my family and friends is what gives me my meaning and purpose of life”
Question #2
Active (or Available, Accessible, Applicable): Are you currently Active in your faith
community? Are you part of a religious or spiritual community? Is support for your faith
Available to you? Do you have Access to what you need to Apply your faith (or your
beliefs)? Is there a person or a group whose presence and support you value at a time like
this?
· “I am very active in my faith community and I am familiar with a religious community. My friend, family and church are there for support regarding my faith. The bible is something that gives me access to what I need definitely. I am apart of several groups who support and value my needs. Bible studies and prayer partners are who I value as support”
Question #3
Coping (or Comfort); Conflicts (or Concerns): How are you Coping with your medical
situation? Is your faith (your beliefs) helping you Cope? How is your faith (your beliefs)
providing Comfort in light of your diagnosis? Do any of your religious beliefs or spiritual
practices Conflict with medical treatment? Are there any particular Concerns you have for
us as your medical team?
· “ I am coping with my medical situation by remaining hopeful and continuing my life. Staying active in the church and maintaining my daily routine is really what motivates me to do better. My faith gives me hope which is helping me cope. My faith provides me comfort because it lets me put my hope in something greater than myself. Actually no beliefs conflict with my medical treatment and I currently have no concerns about getting better or anything”
Question #4
Do you think your treatment is responsible for your 100 percent recovery?

Spiritual Assessment Interview HLT 310

· “I think treatment and the medication has a lot to do with recovery but I also think without my faith I wouldn’t be able to make it. My faith gives me hope which motivates me to be stronger and do better. My health was a huge concern but I know god works in mysterious ways and I am getting better”
Question #5
If your medical provider wishes to use other methods in assisting with your treatment do you think your faith/religion will come in the way of that?
· “I don’t think my religion will come in the way of anything. Currently I am on the right path to recovery. I don’t think there would be any reasons for me to question whether or not the doctor’s treatments are appropriate. I trust my physicians as well as my faith. I know god will lead me into the right paths. Good things will follow.
Analysis
What went well?
There were a lot of great outcomes of this interview. After speaking with Ms. Blackwell I discovered that this assessment wasn’t just questions toward healing but it can be used as a plan to help assist the patient. In this case, it is important to remember that when conducting spiritual assessment is not an end in itself. It is the first step in creating a Spiritual Care Plan (Galek et al 2005). Overall, she seemed comfortable discussing these personal questions about her religion. What made the interview go so well was to see how much her faith means to her and how she applies it to her everyday life.

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What to do differently in the future
In the future if I ever have to do another assessment I think I would try and focus more on the patients experiences rather than their view on religion. I will make sure I answer the questions according to FACT but I think I would add additional questions regarding their experiences just so I can get a better understanding of what their faith means to them.
Barriers and Challenges
Time constraints were a challenge. Also, asking such personal questions about faith can be a challenge as the patient isn’t always comfortable talking about those concepts. Overall, a barrier in this assessment was myself. I am currently growing in my faith so it was difficult asking Ms. Blackwell questions I had no idea myself. I think its important to make sure on is familiar with the questions he/she is asking as well.
How to address challenges and changes that are necessary
In the future, I can address these challenges by continuing to utilize my resources and gain knowledge in my faith that way when it comes down to interviewing a patient or whomever I will be able to feel comfortable asking those questions. Also, making sure I have enough time and not conducting a last minute interview. Time constraints and be a challenge because the it doesn’t give the person who is being interviewed enough time to prepare.
Spiritual experiences
I remember going to church as a kid with Ms. Blackwell and praying every night before bed. She would say things like “your faith is what gives you hope” (Blackwell, personal communication, September 20, 2014). These experiences allowed me and her to feel more comfortable when conducting this interview.
Tools ability to meet needs of the patient
I think this was a successful tool because it provides a quick and accurate determination of whether or not a person’s current health crisis is affecting their spiritual well-being and then based on that determination. Ultimately this assessment suggest a treatment plan which could better the patients health.
Conclusion
Any properly trained healthcare provider can use the FACT Spiritual Assessment Tool as it includes a short history with three questions that involve faith, availability and coping plus an outcome for treatment if needed. Though it is important that the person administering spiritual assessments is professional, the faith, availability and treatment is to be addressed enough to support that individual in their medical illnesses. Using different resources I was able to come up with questions that addressed Ms. Blackwell’s beliefs and how they are implemented throughout her life. These assessments improve quality in healthcare as it allows medical providers to become more familiar with their patients beliefs. Restoring holistic care back into American health care has become big business. However, there is always an opportunity to improve the quality and performance of a health-care system and in order for medical providers to deliver holistic care, these thorough spiritual assessment have be examined during patient care.
References
Galek, K., Flannelly, K.J., Vane, A., Galek, R.M. (2005) Assessing a patient’s spiritual needs: A
comprehensive instrument. Holistic Nursing Practitioner, 19(2), 62-69.
Implicit Spiritual Assessment: An Alternative Approach for Assessing Client Spirituality. (2013). Social Work, 58(3), 223-230. doi:10.1093/sw/swt019
LaRocca-Pitts, M. (2012). FACT, A Chaplain’s Tool for Assessing Spiritual Needs in an Acute Care Setting. Chaplaincy Today, 28(1), 25-32.
The Joint Commission. (2005). Evaluating your spiritualassessment process. Retrieved September 21, 2014, from http://www.professionalchaplains.org/files/resources/reading_room/evaluating_your_spiritual_assessment_process.pdf