Article Text
Nursing issues
Cohort study
Terminally ill patients who are supported by religious communities are more likely to receive aggressive end-of-life care rather than hospice care; spiritual support from medical teams may reverse this
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Implications for practice and research
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Patients with cancer in the USA who receive spiritual support from religious communities alone may receive more aggressive end-of-life (EOL) medical interventions and are less likely to access hospice care.
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Additional spiritual care and EOL discussions by the medical team may reduce aggressive treatments.
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Research is needed outside the USA to validate these findings in more secular cultures and establish the efficacy of spiritual needs interventions.
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Evidence-based training is essential to allow healthcare professionals (HCPs) to implement guidelines to ensure appropriate EOL care.
Context
The provision of spiritual care by HCPs during the palliative phase …
Footnotes
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Competing interests None.