Health Care Needs Assessment

In the past 10 years spirituality and spiritual care have been much debated in professional healthcare literature, highlighting the need for a recognised definition of spiritual care to enable appropriate assessment of, and response to, spiritual issues. This accessible and highly relevant book surveys the numerous statements, guidelines and standards highlighted by these discussions, and equips healthcare professionals with the knowledge, skills and competence to provide the essence of spiritual care within their professional practice. Practical and evidence-based, this manual proves that delivery of good, professional spiritual care can build on intuitive human skills, and can be taught, learned, assessed and quantified. It gives readers the opportunity to move on from uncertainties about their role in the delivery of spiritual care by allowing them to asses and improve their understanding, skills and clinical practice in this area of care. Spiritual Care for Healthcare Professionals clearly grounds spiritual care in clinical practice. It is highly recommended for supporting academic study and encouraging healthcare practitioners to reflect on their practice and develop skills in spiritual assessment and care. Aimed at all healthcare professionals, it can be used by individual practitioners for continuing professional development as well as by academic staff developing educational programmes.

Andrew Stevens Professor of Public Health Medicine, The University of Birmingham (formerly Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine, The Wessex Institute for Health Research and Development) and James Raftery Professor of Health Economics, Health Services Management Centre The University of Birmingham.

Introduction ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES, THE CHANGING BACKGROUND, USE OF THE HEALTH CARE NEEDS ASSESSMENT SERIES, Accident and Emergency Departments 1 SUMMARY 2 THE PROBLEM AND ITS CONTEXT 3 SUB-CATEGORIES 4 INCIDENCE AND PREVALENCE OF CONDITIONS NEEDING A AND E DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 5 SERVICES AVAILABLE AND THEIR UTILIZATION 6 EFFECTIVENESS AND COSTS OF A AND E DEPARTMENTS, 7 MODELS OF CARE 8 OUTCOMES AND TARGETS 9 INFORMATION 10 RESEARCH NEEDS