Improving Access to Spiritual Care as a Key Component of Quality Care
Peggy Maguire, President, Cambia Health Foundation
Danetta Sloan, PhD, MSW, MA, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Allison Kestenbaum, BCC-PCHAC, ACPE, University of California San Diego Health
Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, CHPN, City of Hope Medical Center

Every person with a serious illness should have access to high quality spiritual care across all settings of care at home, in hospitals, or outpatient settings.  The National Consensus Project Clinical Practice Guidelines identify spiritual care as one of the eight domains of quality care in serious illness. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for spiritual assessment as a part of whole person palliative care to address suffering and spiritual needs. COVID-19 has presented us with challenges and opportunities for how we meet the spiritual needs especially in under resourced, rural, Black and Brown communities and others facing disparities. This session will address key strategies for providing spiritual care shared by a panel of palliative care leaders. Attendees will have an opportunity for questions to the panel of experts and learn about interventions, innovations, cultural humility, and opportunities to advance quality spiritual care.