Spiritual Distress Screening by Nurses to Increase Comprehensive Spiritual Support of Patients

This project aimed to address a gap in nurses’ awareness of spiritual care and comprehensive spiritual support of patients in a breast oncology clinic at a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center through interdisciplinary collaboration with chaplaincy. Measures of nurses’ comfort and understanding of spiritual care were assessed at baseline and monthly, utilizing a validated tool. Following education, nurses screened patients during their initial visit to the breast surgical oncology clinic who were experiencing moderate to severe distress for related existential themes of distress using an assessment tool and referred them to chaplaincy or social work based on the screening results. Nurse-initiated chaplain referrals increased significantly during the study period, with the most common distress themes being stress, hopes/fears, and assistance/help. Patient acceptance of referrals averaged 18.7% for chaplaincy and 33.1% for social work. By enhancing nurses’ understanding of spiritual care and the role of chaplaincy, the clinic was able to improve the provision of comprehensive spiritual support, contributing to holistic patient care. Due to spirituality being a component of quality of life, this approach is transferable to other clinical settings. Future research could explore the impact of chaplain interventions on patient distress and quality of life for patients and caregivers.