WHEN IT COMES TO FACILITATING SPIRITIAL CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH WORLDVIEW DIFFERENT FROM YOUR OWN, WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES? PHI 413
WHEN IT COMES TO FACILITATING SPIRITIAL CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH WORLDVIEW DIFFERENT FROM YOUR OWN, WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES? PHI 413
Topic 5 DQ 2
When it comes to facilitating spiritual care for patients with worldviews different from your own, what are your strengths and weaknesses? If you were the patient, who would have the final say in terms of ethical decision-making and intervention in the event of a difficult situation?
Replies
Spiritual care is an important aspect in patient care, and the quality of the spiritual care can make a difference in patients’ outlook on their illness. Personally, I think my biggest weakness when it comes to spiritual care is knowledge. I don’t really know much about any religion aside from Christianity, so it would be easy for me to accidentally say or do something that could be insensitive or offensive because I simply do not know the proper way to handle certain situations. I would consider my strength to be that I am very open-minded and willing to “live and let live”, as long as you aren’t harming someone else you can do what you want and believe what you want. I like to think that I am mostly unprejudiced when it comes to treating people equally, though I do know I have a few small snags here and there that I need to work on.
If I were a patient in a situation where there were difficult decisions to be made, I would want to get as much information about the options as possible from my doctor and a second, possibly even a third opinion. I would also consult my family – my mom, dad, and husband, and try to come to a decision with their help. And I would spend the whole time praying, asking God what I should do. I think as the patient I should have the final say in what happens, even if I make a decision that is different from what everyone else says I should do, but I personally would put a lot of weight on other peoples’ opinions. If I were unable to make the decision, I would hope my family would be able to come to a good decision, and I think my husband should have the final say when it comes to making medical decisions.
As a healthcare provider, I think we all have a weakness in knowing all the different religious beliefs. If we take the time to ask the appropriate questions and do a spiritual assessment, we are building up our worldview knowledge base little by little. I, too, would want my husband, mom, dad, and sisters there to consult with if I have a difficult medical decision to make.
Spiritual care is so helpful in overall patient health and patient support. We must assess their spiritual needs, wants, and openness to spiritual care prior to constructing a plan of care for these patients. I feel like I am strong in the areas of kindness, openness, and education but could use improvement on my personal knowledge of other spiritualities. While I am willing to educate patients when it comes to their health, I also really like to listen to them and assess their overall needs. Some patients need things that we are unaware of because they do not manifest in a physical sense so it is crucial for us as healthcare workers to dig deep and get the patients the care they need and deserve.
In the event of ethical decision making for my own personal care I would like to make the decisions if I am able. In the event that I am not, my family knows my goals and wishes so they would be able to successfully make decisions based on my care with me in mind. Giving them direction has made the difficult situations we have faced as a family a little more straight forward as we all have our healthcare wishes written our for each other. Making decisions is difficult regardless of the situation but especially when it comes to healthcare, having the decision made makes things much more simple in the event of a difficult situation.
Evans, K. (2020). Practicing Dignity: An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision Making in
Health Care. Retrieved from: https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi413v/practicing-dignity-an-introduction-to-christian-values-and-decision-making-in-health-care/v1.1/#/chapter/5
Stacy Morris
Posted Date
Jan 29, 2022, 12:30 AM
Replies to Austyn Holden
I am able to provide care to each patient no matter what religion they are in. When it comes to facilitating spiritual care to my patients with a different worldview, I give the same compassionate care they deserve. In my career, I have not been in a situation where I have had problems due to differences in worldviews. I sat with a patient as she told me all about her Jehovah’s Witness beliefs, which I found very interesting. Jehovah’s Witness is not my worldview, but I continued to listen to her because she needed to know that she was in good hands, and I was interested in her health and her worldview beliefs. Treating a patient’s spirituality is part of the holistic care approach we all strive for in the healthcare setting, caring for the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. “Spirituality affects every aspect of a person’s life, so offering emotional and spiritual care support should be an important focus for all health care providers. (Evans, 2020)
I would have the final say in my health care decisions in the form of a health care directive. I would let my end-of-life decisions be known to my family. My ethical decision-maker would be my sister. She is in the health field and would honor the decisions I chose. This would be tough for her, but she would be assured she was making the right decision and what was in my best interest.
~Stacy
Reference
Evans, K. (2020). Intervention, Ethical Decision Making, and Spiritual Care. Practicing dignity: An introduction to Christian values and decision making in Health Care. https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi413v/practicing-dignity-an-introduction-to-christian-values-and-decision-making-in-health-care/v1.1/#/chapter/5
