Indispensability of Spiritual Assessment of Patients Essay

Spiritual Assessment

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO, 2008; JCAHO, n.d.) recognizes the importance of the spiritual component of a patient's evaluation. It covers his ways of coping, prayer life and religious practices, which make his life meaningful. This component, therefore, becomes an indispensable aspect of his total health care (JCAHO, JCAHO).

Part of the chosen spiritual assessment of the sample patient is composed of the following questions:

How does the patient visualize his spiritual life?

Is the patient contented or happy with his spiritual reputation?

How does he cope with a sense of guilt?

What is his and his wife's spiritual status in the community?

What is his spiritual dilemma that creates psychosomatic symptoms?

Assessment Findings

The male patient will be 54 years old in three months' time, a second-highest ranking official in the largest private coconut-growing coconut entity in Florida. He has worked at this company for 23 years and climbed the ladder to his current post with sustained efficiency and sense of duty. He is an agriculture graduate who prepared for his position. His wife and their only son, now 20 years old, are as educationally equipped as he. Three months ago, he consulted with a general practitioner in a hospital near his residence for a strange-looking mole right beside his right nostrils. A biopsy revealed a malignancy and it was immediately removed on outpatient basis. But a month later, he complained of vague uneasiness, mental lapses, insomnia and general malaise, which robbed him of sleep and his usual energy at work for successive days and nights.An executive check-up showed that he was relatively in good health, except for a fluctuating blood pressure and blood sugar level, which are now subjected to medication. The overall condition of infirmity has persisted.

Discoveries

The patient is described by fellow managers and employees as a fun-loving person. He is also an active leader is a spiritual fellowship organization in his locality. He and his wife are greatly admired in these places. He described his prayer life as regular and that they are born-again Christians. The male patient confided that he is very careful about his image in his organization and in his community. He and his wife are regarded as an ideal couple. But receiving much assurance of confidentiality, he intimated that he had met a woman at their office who conducted a research on a graduate paper on coconuts. He found her very attractive and felt a deep desire for her, which he could not keep to himself. They talked for some time and at another time, they went out to dinner. In that dinner, they confessed to having a deep desire for each other.

What Went Well?

The patient is not the type who expresses himself spontaneously. He does not make the first move. He has a sense of superiority because of his professional achievement and reputation in….....