All-Star Panel Recommends Unprecedented Guidelines to Incorporate Board Certified Chaplains into Palliative Care

More than 50 physicians, nurses, professional chaplains, social workers, professors, and university level researchers have reached consensus that spirituality is a fundamental component of quality palliative care to prevent and relieve suffering, and that spirituality supports the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.

Also, they have recommended how to advance the delivery of spiritual care in palliative care, including having a board certified chaplain as the spiritual care professional on the palliative care team.

Their findings are published in The Journal of Palliative Medicine as a report of a consensus conference sponsored earlier this year by the Archstone Foundation.

The Rev. George Handzo, HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Vice President, Pastoral Care Leadership and Practice, was one of six project advisors. “The high level credentials of this diverse group of experts bring great credibility to this report,” says Rev. Handzo.

“Our hope is that the recommendations in this report will lead to enhanced guidelines for spiritual care in palliative care.”

The consensus report established this new definition of spirituality within the context of a health care environment:

Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.

The report identifies seven key areas for improving spiritual care: spiritual care models; spiritual assessment; spiritual treatment/care plans; interprofessional team; training/certification; personal and professional development; and quality improvement.

The report is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/jpm.