BY: JUDY CASSIDY
Catholic healthcare, with the value it places on holistic care of all patients, emphasizes the link between mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. Pastoral care — or spiritual care, as it is often called — is more important than ever as the population ages and care is delivered in many places besides the acute care hospital. Last January CHA convened pastoral care professionals from various environments in which pastoral care is delivered to look at how pastoral care in changing to meet new needs. The outgrowth of this meeting was the special section in this issue of Health Progress.
In this section, we share the richness of the participants' varied experiences. Innovations you will read about include systemwide pastoral care networks and hospice care that improves care of dying persons by recognizing that spiritual care is essential in a meaningful dying process. We would like to widen the conversation about ways to provide spiritual care today. Please share your ideas by writing, phoning, or e-mailing me.
Networks and Systems
In articles for leaders in healthcare networks, James Unland's insights help Catholic providers who want to get into "direct contracting"; and Glenn M. Pearl and Thomas P. Weil's analysis of experience to date shows systems what they need to do in the future.
Putting Patients First
Maintaining confidentiality of patient information is a growing concern for healthcare organizations. Ida Critelli Schick examines the problem in her article "Protecting Patients' Privacy", and our fax-back "Putting Patients First" question invites you to tell us what your organization is doing to address the issue. Also, see "Putting Patients First" for the answers to our fax-back question on how you improve communications among patients and caregivers.