Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment

In addition to the topic study materials, use the chart you completed and questions you answered in the Topic 3 about \”Case Study: Healing and Autonomy\” as the basis for your responses in this assignment.

Answer the following questions about a patient\’s spiritual needs in light of the Christian worldview.

In 200-250 words, respond to the following: Should the physician allow Mike to continue making decisions that seem to him to be irrational and harmful to James, or would that mean a disrespect of a patient\’s autonomy? Explain your rationale.

In 400-500 words, respond to the following: How ought the Christian think about sickness and health? How should a Christian think about medical intervention? What should Mike as a Christian do? How should he reason about trusting God and treating James in relation to what is truly honoring the principles of beneficence and non maleficence in James\’s care?

In 200-250 words, respond to the following: How would a spiritual needs assessment help the physician assist Mike determine appropriate interventions for James and for his family or others involved in his care?

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Remember to support your responses with the topic study materials.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to Lopes Write. Refer to the Lopes Write Technical Support articles for assistance.Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

BS in Health Sciences 1.2; BS Nursing (RN to BSN ) 5.2

Assess for the spiritual needs and provide appropriate interventions for individuals, families, and groups.

In clinical nursing practice, nurses and other healthcare providers have an intrapersonal conflict between scientism and the Christian worldview. While Christians have a strong belief that God impacts people’s Quality of Life (QoL), in practice, rarely do healthcare professionals consider patients individual religious beliefs when making ethical decisions especially in matters involving life and death. This implies that making an ethical decision is among one of the most difficult tasks in clinical nursing practice.

This paper analyzes the Christian principles and ethical issues presented in the case of Mike and Joanne, a couple who had the task of making difficult decisions concerning their son James. James had kidney failure and urgently needed a kidney transplant after an initial decision by his parents to withhold dialysis and resorting to a healing service. After a gradual worsening of James’s health status, Mike and Joanne are required to make decisions on how to progress with James’s care for the best outcomes.

Allowing Mike to Continue Making Irrational and Harmful Decisions

Kilbride & Joffe, (2018) describe patient autonomy as a multidimensional and complex concept that incorporates ‘patient self-governance’ and ‘patient self-determination’ to make personal decisions and control individual life. In nursing practice, there is personal autonomy and autonomous choice. The latter describes when patients make individual choices on health interventions while the former focuses on specific aspects of being an autonomous person. According to Kilbride & Joffe, (2018), fully autonomous patients do not have the capacity and rights to make personal health decisions. Instead, they rely on the patient-provider therapeutic relationship to make informed decisions from a shared responsibility. Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment Thus, in this case, the physician has to share with Mike and Joanne all the vital information needed to make critical decisions on the best course of managing James. The information should however include the risks and benefits of every alternate intervention and include an explanation on the most likely occur if both the parents and providers agree not to take action. If Mike and Joanne will agree that James will not continue with dialysis, the doctor must inform them of the risks associated with that decision and how it negatively impacts James’s health and overall well-being. Similarly, if both parties fail to reach an intervention agreement, the therapeutic relationship would deem unhelpful. However, terminating the relationship would depict it as patient abandonment. Should Mike and Joanne make a morally wrong decision that violates the doctor’s morals, it will be ethically wrong for the latter to proceed with the care, the same way that Joanne and Mike disagree on their son’s initial course of treatment.

Christian Narrative of Sickness, Health, and Medical Intervention

Christians view health and sickness differently. Similarly, in this case, study, the doctor’s view differs significantly from that of Mike and Joanne. From a medical and Christian standpoint, it is said that James fell sick at a tender age. Besides, the delays in making care decisions by his parents continue to worsen his health status and cause immense physical, psychological, and emotional distress to the doctor, James, Mike, and Joanne.

As staunch Christians, Mike and Joanne may consider James’ illness as part of God’s plan, and introducing different medical interventions to improve his health status might seem the best course of action for them. After the healing service, James’s deteriorating health status could also be considered a wrong decision by Mike and Joanne to an extent that they can begin to question whether their faith, belief in God, and spirituality are adequate for their son’s healing. As Christians, Mike and Joanne can also be undecided as to whether to undergo the kidney transplant and consider it as an intervention while God will manifest healing or if they should wait and continue praying for God’s healing. These views of health, illness, and medical interventions are common among Christians and can help to clarify why it is difficult to specifically explain Mike and Joanne’s final decision. If their decision will withhold the kidney transplant, from a medical perspective, James might likely die from an unnecessary and untimely death. Therefore, the medical team should over-emphasize and discourage a decision on refusal of treatment. However, Mike and Joanne will make the final decision.Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment

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Christians have different beliefs in medical interventions. While a portion believes that sickness is a test of one’s faith in God and that only God brings healing without any medical interventions, others believe that God can bring healing in different ways and through different people such as doctors and medical interventions (transplant) (Fitch & Bartlett, 2019). Christians who seek care embrace biomedical concepts and science to reduce their suffering as well as to maintain the sanity of life. In this case scenario, Mike should use the first incidence as a learning point. He should maintain his spirituality and belief in God for his son’s well-being but allow God to work through medical interventions and the doctor. The principle of beneficence requires doctors to act in a patient’s best interest while that of non-maleficence requires doctors to do no harm (Stone, 2018). The decision to allow God’s healing through a kidney transplant will address both the principle of non-maleficence and beneficence.

Spiritual Needs Assessment

Spiritual care is today acknowledged by the World Health Organization as a major domain when caring for patients. According to Fitch & Bartlett (2019), unmet spiritual needs are associated with spiritual distress, existential suffering, and spiritual pain. They also impact QoL, social relations, and overall well-being. Besides, spiritual needs can influence coping, adjustment, and decision-making about treatment. Therefore, healthcare providers must conduct a spiritual needs assessment as this helps to promote holistic and patient-centric care that addresses all of a patient’s needs (Fitch & Bartlett, 2019). Spiritual needs differ from one person to another. For instance, in this case, scenario, Mike is certain that to know God’s will with regards to his son’s sickness he has to listen to God’s word. To address this need, the doctor can easily refer him to the chaplain. Alternatively, if Mike needs time alone for meditation, he can collaboratively plan with the doctor.

It is also important to consider that Mike has placed a lot of emphasis on his faith and relation with God at the expense of Samuel’s health. Therefore, by the doctor assessing his understanding of the role played by my medical interventions and perspective about Christianity. His intention to prove his faith the second time revealed a high likelihood of being a Christian fanatic. Even after the doctor’s advice and knowledge that his son’s life was in danger, Mike remained unbowed and unchanged. According to Fitch & Bartlett (2019), this was an indicator that Mike had some form of spiritual distress that had to be addressed. It is also likely that Mike had specific Christian beliefs that were deterring him from making concrete decisions to save his son’s life early. A spiritual needs assessment would have helped to identify if Mike was experiencing spiritual distress, to hold relevant conversations about his spiritual needs, and to know when appropriate to refer him to chaplaincy.Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment

Conclusion

In clinical nursing practice, healthcare providers need to strike a balance between scientism and religious worldviews. This includes medical professionals recognizing faith among other spiritual aspects that influence a patient’s health and wellness. To minimize conflict when making ethical decisions, healthcare providers must share with patients all the vital information needed for decision making including the benefits, risks, and harms associated with alternate interventions. Healthcare professionals must also ensure that patients make moral and ethical decisions that promote health and wellbeing, minimize suffering, and associated health risks. However, there are clinical instances where patients can make care decisions that conflict with a provider’s ethical and moral reasoning. In such a case, a provider is right to end the patient-doctor therapeutic relationship. Similarly, patients should have the freedom to make decisions that align with their religious beliefs, values, and morals.

References

Fitch, M. I., & Bartlett, R. (2019). Patient Perspectives about Spirituality and Spiritual Care. Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing, 6(2), 111–121. https://doi.org/10.4103/apjon.apjon_62_18

Grand Canyon University. (2015). Biomedical Ethics in The Christian Narrative. Meilaender, G.

(2013). Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Kilbride, M. K., & Joffe, S. (2018). The new age of patient autonomy: implications for the patient-physician relationship. Jama, 320(19), 1973-1974.

Stone E. G. (2018). Evidence-Based Medicine and Bioethics: Implications for Health Care Organizations, Clinicians, and Patients. The Permanente Journal, 22, 18-030. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/18-030

Week 5 Patient’s Spiritual Needs Assessment