Question: I NEED A POSITIVE COMMENT BASED IN THIS ARGUMENT..BETWEEN 150-200 WORDS

When it comes to facilitating spiritual care for patients with different worldviews, I feel I have many strengths. I am open to others beliefs and am interested in learning how others view the world and where they draw their spirituality. I am open to talking about many subjects that can be uncomfortable and therefore gain respect from many of my patients and colleagues. I will advocate for my patients and colleagues to practice what is important to them in situations that arise. I encourage my patients and colleagues to use what is helpful to them and voice their spiritual needs no matter what they are. My weakness may be that I am not educated enough on the many religions and spiritual needs that I come across during my practice.

If I was a patient my family would have the final say in terms of ethical decision-making and intervention in the event of a difficult situation. I have an advanced directive and medical power of attorney (my husband) that will assist in guiding their difficult decisions. I have also made my wishes clear through conversations with my loved ones as well as my friends.

At my facility a program was rolled out called "5 wishes". It is a program that encourages employees to fill out an advanced directive and have it on file with the hospital in case of emergency. The amazing part of this program is that it was extremely accessible, yet the response rate was only 25%. As healthcare providers that frequently encourage their patients to have such documents available, it seems that many of us are nervous to think about our own mortalities. "While many people might have a general idea of what life-sustaining measures they would or would not like, most don't put them in writing. Many assume that verbalizing their wishes to their family is sufficient" (Schmidt, 2016).

Schmidt, P. (2016). Improving Advance Directive Completion Rates.