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Recent reports suggest that addressing spiritual issues is beneficial for
terminally ill patients and their caregivers.
Practice Recommendations
- Address the spiritual needs of patients.
- Establish an interdisciplinary
team to enhance collaboration with chaplains, spiritual counselors and
pastoral workers. Assess the spiritual
needs of patients, caregivers and family members repeatedly as the disease
progresses.
- Recognize and accept the patient's spiritual and religious
attitudes. Educate health care providers regarding cross-cultural religious
differences
in the approach to death and dying with the intent of improving management
of end-of-life issues.
Research Recommendations
- Improve methods and tools for assessing the spiritual needs of patients
and caregivers.
- Study the impact of managing spiritual needs on quality
of life and longevity of patients, and on the patient-physician relationship.
- Examine
spiritual needs of different patient populations (e.g., ALS versus cancer)
and different ethnic/religious backgrounds to improve specific
spiritual care for different populations of patients.
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