Palliative Care Spiritual Assessment and Goals-of-Care Discussions in the Neurocritical Care Unit: Collaborating with Chaplains.

Abstract

Introduction: Neuropalliative care is an emerging subspecialty of palliative care designed to address the unique supportive care needs of patients with serious neurological illness, including those receiving neurocritical care in intensive care units. Spiritual care is a vital component in the provision of holistic and humanized care to these patients. A chaplain who is specially trained and credentialed in care for those with serious illness is the health care professional responsible for making spiritual assessments and contributes to the plan of care, facilitating decision making, and guiding other clinicians in the provision of generalist spiritual care.

Methods: This article illustrates the role of chaplains in supporting neurocritical care patients and highlights two fundamental aspects of spiritual care: (1) spiritual screening/assessment and (2) assistance with goals-of-care conversations.

Results: These cases clarify the role of professionally trained and credentialed chaplains with experience in both neurocritical and palliative care and the value added to the interprofessional team.