Benchmark – Patient’s Spiritual Needs: Case Analysis

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 nonmaleficence 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?
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.

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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.

ANSWER

Benchmark – Patient’s Spiritual Needs Case Analysis

Introduction

The Case study of Healing and Autonomy offers a case of James, who has Kidney failure and requires dialysis. Since James is a minor, he cannot make decisions, which means his parents have to make the final decisions regarding his medical care. James’ parents decided to go against the physician’s recommendations due to their spiritual belief that God will heal their son. Unfortunately, faith healing fails and James’ condition worsened, which forced them to return to the hospital. This paper will focus on making decisions concerning the patient’s autonomy, Christian’s perception of illness and health, and spiritual need assessment during the treatment plan.

Should the physician allow Mike to continue making decisions that seem to him to be irrational and harmful to James, or would that mean disrespect of a patient’s autonomy? Explain your rationale.

Patient autonomy offers healthcare professionals a chance to educate the patients but does not allow them to make decisions on behalf of the patient (Toader, 2020). However, they have an important role in helping the patients in the treatment plan and choice in care. The healthcare professional should not disrespect the patient’s autonomy but should help Mike make an informed decision. In this case, Mike and Joanne have been offered the chance to decide on their son’s health. They decided to seek spiritual healing rather than dialysis, but James’ health is still worsening. Rather than letting Mike make harmful and irrational decisions, the healthcare professional should educate Mike about the condition and the most effective treatment plan.

Educating the parents entails explaining to them without bias the impacts of each choice. The healthcare professional should not disapprove parent’s decision to believe in God since every healthcare provider is entitled to respecting the patient’s autonomy. Considerably, the misunderstanding between the parents and the healthcare providers is causing more harm than good to James’ condition. The parents need to understand the current clinical condition, but it’s the healthcare professional’s role to enlighten them on the best choice and its benefit to James’ health.

Healthcare promotion has moved into a much-enlightened era of patient care that allows the physicians to involve the patients and help them comprehend the treatment options and work collaboratively to accomplish the healthcare promotion and wellness goals without disrespecting the patient’s autonomy (Toader, 2020). Additionally, James’ best interest is that everyone is acting for their good. The healthcare professional can go a step further to involve the priest as a spiritual figure to meet the family’s spiritual needs while making an informed decision.

How ought the Christian to 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 nonmaleficence in James’s care?

Ideally, Christianity influences people’s activities and ways of thinking, thus leading to different perceptions. Christians perceive health as a reflection of God’s love. However, the Christian view does not deny that some people get sick and need care. But the Christian view of the health needs the community to acknowledge sickness so that the sick person may have their health restored. Christians believe that God did not create suffering or sickness and did not allow it to exist.

Sickness is considered an illusion that can be corrected, healed, and halted through prayer (Rumun, 2014). Some Christians believe that sickness is a punishment due to sins, while others consider it a test from God for their faith. In times of sickness, Christians believe that God will facilitate their healing and treatment. This is because Christians believe that in times of sickness, God heals through the power of the Holy Spirit and faith healing which entails prayers and miracle healing. Therefore, Christians may defy medical understanding since they believe that God will work out miracles to heal in different ways among the God-fearing persons.

Christians overlook medical interventions when they face physical ailments; they believe that they will witness the hope of healing in their lives through God’s intervention rather than medical intervention to restore their physical health (Toader, 2020). However, Christians need to think of illness and medical intervention from a biological perspective; thus, they trust that medical intervention and spiritual healing will heal diseases and sickness. Ideally, God has offered human beings intelligence and, through his power, has enabled them to discover the medical treatments that help cure the known medical disease and problems. Therefore, the medical interventions are put in place not to forego spiritual healing.

Christians should seek medical interventions and at the same time have faith and pray to be healed. As a Christian, Mike should be more concerned about what is best for their son in a given situation and consider the options laid before him by the physicians to possibly facilitate better health for James. Mike should be flexible in letting James undergo the dialysis since the medical intervention should be a source of hope that God will intervene. Therefore, his faith in God should not be compromised by medical interventions.

The principle of beneficence entails balancing the benefits of treatment against the costs and risks involved, while nonmaleficence entails preventing the causation of harm (Brett and McCullough, 2012). For instance, it might be necessary to offer treatment to James that the parents do not desire to prevent harm and serious health issues. Mike should consider different principles surrounding James during their decision-making.

Mike and Joanne should consider the benefits of dialysis as a treatment plan and have faith in God that the treatment plan will help heal their son. Mike should be certain about the medical interventions since healthcare professionals must adhere to both health and religious needs. Therefore, their faith in spiritual healing should not neglect the scientific healthcare methods while providing holistic healthcare.

How would a spiritual needs assessment help the physician assist Mike in determining appropriate interventions for James and his family or others involved in his care?

The spiritual assessment aims to identify particular spiritual care needs and formulate a care plan for a patient (McSherry and Ross, 2010). Ideally, meeting the spiritual needs of the patient is part of the daily healthcare provision. This entails incorporating the perceptions of the patient’s faith traditions into the treatment plan and supporting the patient through their spiritual traditions. Therefore, healthcare professionals can offer a holistic care plan. Through the spiritual needs assessment, the physician can offer answers to Mike on the need for dialysis. Considerably, everyone has their spiritual needs, including the purpose and meaning in their lives.

Terminal illness can led to some looking for meaning in a new way and lead to spiritual distress. Therefore, assessing the spiritual needs will allow the physician to find ways to help Mike and the corresponding needs as part of the care process. Considering the spiritual needs of Mike and his family plays a crucial role in shaping the decision of the individuals. The intervention plans should be developed so that they meet the spiritual needs of Mike and Joanne and ascertain their spirituality level. Spiritual needs assessment makes it easy to formulate decisions that consider their perception of Christianity and offer the support needed to James.

Conclusion

The physician should educate the parents on the most suitable treatment plan and respect their medical decisions. This should include the biases and benefits of every choice on James’ health. As Christians, the parents need to consider medical interventions and have faith that God will heal James. The physician needs to examine the spiritual needs of the parents to enlighten them on the importance of the medical intervention and how it’s linked to their spiritual needs of healing.

References

Brett, A. S., & McCullough, L. B. (2012). Addressing requests by patients for nonbeneficial interventions. Jama, 307(2), 149-150.

McSherry, W., & Ross, L. (Eds.). (2010). Spiritual assessment in healthcare practice. M&K Update Ltd.

Rumun, A. J. (2014). Influence of religious beliefs on healthcare practice. Int J Educ Res, 2(4), 37-48.

Toader, E. (2020). Patients’ Religion and Spirituality in an Ethical Approach. Journal of Intercultural Management and Ethics, 3(1), 45-50.