Complete a spiritual assessment

Spiritual Needs Assessment

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According to the Joint Commission (2005), religious affiliation and patient spiritual needs should be taken into consideration in spiritual assessment, but the specifics of this differ depending on the assessment tool chosen and type of organization. The Joint Commission acknowledges that in order to provide a more holistic health care approach it is necessary to cater for spiritual needs other than physical needs. It is necessary to have competent persons perform assessment as qualifications of the assessor should be clearly defined (The Joint Commission, 2008).
Mrs. A is a 56 year old woman living with her husband, and struggles with type 2 diabetes. Mrs. A works part time, and gave consent to use of FICA assessment tool. Mrs. A stated that she was a committed Baptist, and faith plays an important part in her life and so is the support of her husband, family and friends. The assessment was based on the FICA tool which stands for F- Faith or Belief, I- Importance and Influence; C is Community while A is Address. From the assessment it emerged that the role of a spiritual community is necessary to also give strength in times of difficulty. Spiritual assessment is often left out in healthcare assessment, but its relevance cannot be ignored given the enthusiasm of Mrs. A.
After giving her consent Mrs. A did not object to any of the questions, and was eager to answer questions. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether cooperation is correlated with spirituality, given that a religious skeptics would probably have been defensive. Overall, the patient answered the questions without hesitation showing that she gave honest answers. Thus, there were no major hurdles experienced in the assessment, and the assessment went smoothly. In any case, one of the major discoveries I made was that faith acts as a source of hope in spite of challenges that goes through. Consequently, it is necessary to highlight on positive effect of faith on emotional well being of religious patients.
As an assessor being emphatic is a critical aspect of using spiritual assessment tool, but there is also a need to be culturally sensitive. Thus, in future I wish to know more about patient’s culture as this affects the way they interact and communicate. Patients may have positive views on the role of spirituality in health care, but the approach taken may make it hard to asses what a patient truly believes. In the case of Mrs. A, her responses were straight forward and she represents mainstream America. However, this would probably have been different for an ethnic person with no proper command of English.
Time is a critical aspect of spiritual ...