An Integrated System for the Assessment and Treatment of Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Distress

More and more health care is dictated by specific standards of practice and detailed clinical pathways. Increasingly, options for care not specified in those pathways are not used. Pastoral care is among the options included in the treatment pathways. When included, there is usually no more than a mention that psychological, social, or spiritual care will be offered—without a specific plan. In light of that, this article presents a newly developed, integrated system for rapidly assessing distress in outpatients with cancer, triaging them to the proper psychological, social, or spiritual caregiver, and then treating the distress along predetermined pathways. The pastoral care pathways are presented in detail.