TY - JOUR T1 - 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 JF - Evidence Based Nursing JO - Evid Based Nurs SP - 95 LP - 95 DO - 10.1136/eb-2013-101509 VL - 17 IS - 3 AU - Ingela C V Thuné-Boyle Y1 - 2014/07/01 UR - http://ebn.bmj.com/content/17/3/95.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Balboni TA, Balboni M, Enzinger AC, et al. Provision of spiritual support to patients with advanced cancer by religious communities and associations with medical care at the end of life. JAMA Intern Med 2013;173:1109–17.OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science 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. Additional spiritual care and EOL discussions by the medical team may reduce aggressive treatments. Research is needed outside the USA to validate these findings in more secular cultures and establish the efficacy of spiritual needs interventions. Evidence-based training is essential to allow healthcare professionals (HCPs) to implement guidelines to ensure appropriate EOL care. The provision of spiritual care by HCPs during the palliative phase … ER -