Spiritual Care in the OPD Harvey A. Elder, M. D.

Spiritual:  Searching the sacred for meaning and purpose  Who am I?  Where did I come from?  Where am I going?  What is there after death?  Relating to the Sacred, Ultimate, to God  Faith is the name of the relationship Medical Strategic Network2

3 What Is Spiritual Care?  Who are the patients in the OPD?  Integrated multifactor unity  Who do you see? Why come?  What supports their identity?  What core issues do they face?  What are their central spiritual needs?  How well are they coping?  Providing Spiritual Care

What Supports Their Identity  If physical  illness challenges identity  If mental  mental slowing threatens  If emotional  emotional varieties threaten  If social  how perceived threatens  If spiritual: belief in Almighty Being  stability  If merciful/gracious  past forgiven  If personal  love specific, deep and tender  If creative  self-worth stable not subject to threat Medical Strategic Network4

Core Issues Faced  Who are you? What are you worth?  Who cares about you? Who cares for you?  What drives you? Are you free from your past?  What does you future look like?  How do you cope with life? with illness? with stress?  All of these complicate illness, compliance and recovery Medical Strategic Network5

Meet Joe  Joe: 23 yr. old, 2 nd yr. of professional school married 6 mo., a committed Christian  During exam week for 1 st yr. nocturnal diarrhea, often keeping awake all night.  What are his spiritual needs? Medical Strategic Network6

More about Joe  He took Benadryl and this helped a little  His mother died of lymphoma, 05/08  He has small lymph nodes below his rt. Jaw  What are his spiritual needs? Medical Strategic Network7

8 What Is Spiritual Care?  Who are the patients in the OPD?  What are their central spiritual needs?  Connection: past, present, future  What questions do they deal with?  How well are they coping?  Providing Spiritual Care

What Are Their Questions?  Physical:  Meaning, outcome  Suffering, impairment  Mental/cognitive:  Mental faculties, “loose it,” employment, hobbies  Social:  Social support, abandonment, financial stability  Spiritual:  Why me?  Where is God in all of this? Medical Strategic Network9

Meet Cara  71 yr. old lady living with her third husband  1 mo. cough that worsened, especially at night  1 wk. cough  can’t breath unless sits up  Believes in God and trusts Him when necessary  What are her spiritual needs? Medical Strategic Network 10

Additional Info for Cara  Additional information:  Second husband died of cancer of the lungs  Father died, age 72, of heart failure with severe dyspnea  What are her spiritual needs? Medical Strategic Network11

Medical Strategic Network12 What Is Spiritual Care?  Who are the patients in the OPD?  What are their central spiritual needs?  How well are they coping?  Orienting System  Role of illness if Identity based on: physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual  Spiritual Care in the OPD

Medical Strategic Network13 What Is Spiritual Care?  Who are the patients in the OPD?  What are their central spiritual needs?  How well are they coping?  Spiritual Care in the OPD  Initial visit  Strategy  Meeting spiritual needs

Initial Visit: Questions  “How coping with symptoms/illness/life?”  “Religious heritage? Still practicing?”  “What are you famous for?”  “How has this illness affected the way you see yourself?”  “What about your symptoms concerns you?”  “How do you view the future”? Medical Strategic Network14

Strategy  Ask something at the first visit  Note in the chart something not clarified  Keep the conversation going from visit to visit  Asking questions about multiple aspects of life frees patients to ask about their concerns  Treat each area of concern as you would, any clinical problem: query, evaluate and fine help  At some point they will have a major crisis! Medical Strategic Network15

Respond to Spiritual Needs  Connection: presence, listening, hearing  Identity: God’s precious child  Self-worth, loved  Grace: accepted (no shame)  Forgiveness  confession, repentance (gift), humility  Commitment: faith  praise and obedience, hope  Bring specific spiritual answers to their needs, not generic ones (pray more, read Bible, etc.)  No proselytizing Medical Strategic Network16

Spiritual Care  Speaking TRUTH to meet human needs  Friendship, building a safe relationship (not Amway!)  Connection, willing to share in their suffering  Freedom from judgment  Helping them find support  God, Holy Spirit, Christians friends  Stand with encourage, hold as they struggle with  Acceptance and love  Forgiveness: self and others  Self-worth: precious child of God Medical Strategic Network17