For this final assignment, you will be tasked to review your work in the Topic 3 case study and continue to analyze
For this final assignment, you will be tasked to review your work in the Topic 3 case study and continue to analyze the case to best determine spiritual care interventions throughout their plan of care. In particular, the focus will be on the Christian application of the four principles, as well as appropriate options in providing a patient with spiritual care.
Based on the chart you completed and questions you answered in the Topic 3 about “Case Study: Healing and Autonomy” and reading the topic Resources, complete the “Patient\’s Spiritual Needs: Case Analysis” document in a maximum of 1,500 words, in which you will analyze the case study in relation to the following:
- Patient autonomy
- Christian perspective and actions related to sickness and health, principles of beneficence, and nonmaleficence
- Spiritual needs assessment and appropriate interventions for all involved in providing care
- Accountability that would demonstrate an ethical manner that reflects professional standards of practice and person-centered care and participatory approach to care
Note: Participatory approach to care calls for involving stakeholders, particularly the participants in a program or those affected by a given policy, in specific aspects of the evaluation process. The approach covers a wide range of different types of participation, and stakeholders can be involved at any stage of the impact evaluation process, including its design, data collection, analysis, reporting, and managing a study.
Also, person-centered care is “empowering people to take charge of their own health rather than being passive recipients of services” (WHO, 2021). This care strategy is based on the belief that patient views, input, and experiences can help improve overall health outcomes.
Support your response using only the following Topic 5 Resources:
- Chapter 5 from the textbook Practicing Dignity: An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision-Making in Health Care
- “Assessing Spiritual Health Through the Use of Spiritual Health Assessment Tools: Indications for End-of-Life Care”
- “Faith-Sensitive End-of-Life Care for Children, Young People, and Their Families”
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.
Expert Answer and Explanation
Benchmark – Patient’s Spiritual Needs: Case Analysis
Spiritual care is an integral perspective of any care provision. From a Christian perspective, it is a calling to ensure that all patients’ spiritual needs are addressed alongside other medical needs. Notably, patients have varying spiritualties and understanding the patients is integral to offering holistic care (Notini & Oakley, 2022). While this might seem straightforward on paper, it is more complicated. Many ethical issues and decisions need to be made to ensure that the patient can access the best care possible.
By following Christian principles of care which include beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy justice and fairness, it is possible to navigate the different experiences in patient care (Bogue et al. 2022). A case study of a boy who had acute glomerulonephritis, and kidney failure showed the interaction between faith and healthcare provision. His father Mike had delayed treatment in favor of spiritual treatment and ended up placing his son, James in a more dire situation.
Moreover, the situation required more intense decisions such as asking the twin to be a donor. From a Christian worldview, it is crucial to understand the situation better by discussing issues such as autonomy, spiritual needs assessments, Christian perceptive and accountability of the stakeholders.
Patient Autonomy
Patient autonomy refers to the respect of patient’s decisions regardless of the current situation they are experiencing. However, for patients to have autonomy they must have informed consent. In the case involving the patient James, an eight-year-old it is evident that the decision-making was reserved for the father alone. While this should be no issue as the father only wanted to have what was best for their son the hospital should have invoked a participatory approach. This would ensure that all stakeholders were involved in the care of James.
For their initial contact with the hospital, all stakeholders could have been informed of the current condition of the patient. While they could not be entitled to make the decision, they would passively influence the father based on the discussion and their understanding of the situation hence averting the current dire situation (Green, 2021). Moreover, the young son could have gotten a small understanding of his situation and made his wishes known to the father.
Nonetheless, given the situation has already escalated, it would be better to enhance the patient’s autonomy by involving the son. Patient-centered treatment dictates that a patient must be an active participant in their treatment regime. Therefore, moving forward, they should be more honest with James regarding his condition Buchanan et al. (2022).
From a Christian perspective, to enhance a patient’s autonomy, it is crucial to encourage the patient and even offer spiritual guidance when needed. Mike is also a patient in a way as he is the main guardian to James (Kristyna Polakova et al., 2023). He should also be offered support and guidance as needed. This will go a long way in helping him make better decisions as care continues.
Christian Perspective and Actions Related to Sickness and Health, Principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
The Christian perspective in matters relating to sickness and health acknowledges the role of God in healing. They explain that God is in control and can heal both spiritually and physically. This can be activated through prayer and faith. With this in mind, Mike was right in having his faith in God (Camara & Rosengarten, 2021). He hoped for healing and therefore instead of subjecting his son to medical practices, he hoped that he would get healing from his faith. However, his decision proved to be a little late and caused more harm than good (Bogue et al. 2022).
This could have affected his faith and spirituality and going further in holistic care, it is crucial to advise him and encourage him regardless of the outcomes of his previous decisions. It is also notable that Christians believe to be stewards of the temple of the holy spirit and therefore they should take care of themselves through wise decisions. While the decision Mike made ended up with regrettable consequences, it is important to understand that has had hard decisions moving forward (Kristyna Polakova et al., 2023).
His son needs a kidney transplant and so far, the only match is his eight-year-old twin Steve. This is an almost impossible situation for Mike as he wants what is best for both sons and therefore, he needs a lot of spiritual and medical guidance to ensure that he forms an informed consent. Christian believes in showing compassion and providing care to all those who are sick. This is evidenced through Christ’s interactions with all the sick people. Christians are therefore called to be compassionate and care for those who are ill and this must be reflected in the care provided to James and his family.
The principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence are also integral to the Christian views Beneficence focuses on doing good and acting in the patient’s best interest. When analyzing the case provided, it can be hard to see the patient’s best interest in the first interaction. Although the doctors honored the patient’s autonomy they failed to focus on the principle of beneficence (Bogue et al. 2022). Given the current situation that which James was brought in, they should have been adamant in ensuring that James’ interests came before his father’s beliefs at this point (Davies, 2019).
However, they failed on the principle of beneficence and therefore they should work on doing better next time. They further failed to consider the principle of nonmaleficence as allowing Mike to take James from the care ended up causing more harm than good. In such circumstances and when the risks are dire the patient’s autonomy can be confiscated in favor of the patient’s wellness.
Spiritual Needs Assessment and Appropriate Interventions for all Involved in Providing Care
As Bogue et al. (2022) explains it is crucial to understand a patient spiritual needs when providing holistic care. Some of the questions that a practitioner can ask to understand the patient’s stance include the importance of faith and spirituality to them. Another question can be whether their faith is providing comfort and guidance at that time. To further ensure that the spiritual needs are enhanced, the practitioners must check to understand if there are religious practices that the patient would want to continue (Notini & Oakley, 2022).
In this case, it is evident that Mike is very religious but considering the outcomes of his first decision, he might be hesitant to continue with his faith (Camara & Rosengarten, 2021). At this time, he is at the crossroads of faith and even thinks that he is being punished or he has inadequate faith. It is therefore crucial for the healthcare practices to help him renew his faith through activities such as praying for him and listening to him when he needs to talk.
This might seem trivial but it will go a long way in restoring his faith in God (Bogue et al. 2022). The practitioners should offer compassionate presence, and emotional support and connect the family with their religious leaders. Offering them a safe space for privacy, prayer and meditation will go a long way in helping them spiritually.
Accountability Demonstrating an Ethical Manner Reflecting on Professional Standards of Practice, Person-centered Care and Participatory Approach to Care
It is crucial to demonstrate accountability ethically in medical practice. One way to ensure accountability is to engage in continuous learning. This will ensure that as a practitioner, one can stay up to date with the changes in areas such as holistic care and enhancing spirituality in care. Additionally, one should be accountable for the care they provide. This means ensuring that one should be transparent with colleagues and patients about their actions and where there is a need for correction, they should be positive about it (Bogue et al. 2022).
Moreover, ethically, they should respect patient autonomy by ensuring that the patients can make informed decisions about their care. Medical practitioners must also follow ethical principles and in the Christian perspective, this includes the principles of beneficence. Non-maleficence, justice and autonomy.
When reflecting on the case, it is evident that accountability should be the foremost in providing quality care for James. The medical practitioners who allowed his father Mike to leave the hospital regardless of the dire situation experienced should be accountable for his actions. They should not only apologize but also provide a detailed explanation of the occurrence of the event to ensure that it was not repeated.
Additionally, in person-centered care, they should ensure that decision-making is shared to foster trust among the families and the medical practitioners (Green, 2021). The participatory approach in the situation called for open communication. The case study does not reveal that Mike was explicitly told the extent of his illness and this could have affected his decisions. Therefore, in future, there is a need for collaboration and open communication.
Conclusion
The Christian perspective integrates easily with the expected general ethical principles in healthcare. The case study showed an impossible case where a focus on spirituality led to adverse health consequences. It is notable that with a focus on the four principles the medical practitioners can find better solutions for such future cases. Moreover, they can offer the spiritual care that James and his family need as they continue with treatment.
References
Bogue, D., Hogan, M., White, N., Hoehner, P., Self, C., & Evans, K. (2022). Practicing Dignity: An introduction to Christian values and Decision Making in Healthcare. In Nursing Bay. Grand Canyon University.
Buchanan, F., Lai, C., Cohen, E., Milo-Manson, G., & Shachak, A. (2022). Decision-making for Parents of Children With Medical Complexities: Activity Theory Analysis. Journal of Participatory Medicine, 14(1), e31699. https://doi.org/10.2196/31699
Camara, C., & Rosengarten, L. (2021). Faith-sensitive end of life care for children, young people and their families. British Journal of Nursing, 30(5), 276-279.
Davies, B. (2019). Responsibility and the limits of patient choice. Bioethics, 34(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12693
Green, C. A. (2021). Assessing spiritual health through the use of spiritual health assessment tools: Indications for end-of-life care. The International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society, 11(1), 189.
Kristyna Polakova, Ahmed, F., Karolina Vlckova, & Brearley, S. G. (2023). Parents’ experiences of being involved in medical decision-making for their child with a life-limiting condition: A systematic review with narrative synthesis. Palliative Medicine, 38(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163231214414
Notini, L., & Oakley, J. (2022). When (if ever) may doctors discuss religion with their patients? Bioethics, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13111
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