Clinical Spiritual Assessment Instrument

Spiritual Assessment

Developing a Spiritual Assessment Instrument for Clinical Use

Developing a Spiritual Assessment Instrument for Clinical Use

The Joint Commission (2005) requires all healthcare organizations seeking accreditation to implement a patient spiritual needs assessment policy and recommends spiritual assessment training for all medical staff. The design and content of the spiritual assessment is left up to the organization, but an effective assessment strategy would be both respectful of the patient's perspectives and beliefs, while ascertaining how the healthcare organization can facilitate their religious and/or spiritual practices (The Joint Commission, 2008). The overall goal would be to improve patient outcomes.

Aside from meeting accreditation requirements, attending to the spiritual needs of patients is increasingly viewed as an ethical obligation for clinicians (Vermandere et al., 2011). For example, the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2014) considers the spiritual needs of patients an important component of professional nursing practice....
[ View Full Essay]