Developing and implementing spiritual screening in healthcare: six successful models

Healthcare chaplains recognize the importance of informed referrals for spiritual care; they are essential for spiritual care in outpatient settings. Research about the prevalence and harmful effects of religious/spiritual distress underscores the importance of effective methods for identifying patients who would benefit from spiritual care. Spiritual screening is a valuable way to help healthcare colleagues identify patients who would benefit from further assessment and spiritual care. To help spiritual care programs implement spiritual screening, in this article chaplains from six organizations with successful spiritual screening describe the development and implementation of their programs. The settings for these screening programs include hospital inpatients, oncology outpatient centers, palliative care, and population health. The descriptions include the screening questions used, how they are administered, and what it took to get them implemented. Common and unique features of these six approaches to spiritual screening are discussed along with areas for future research.