Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education and Training for Palliative Care Staff

The teaching of spirituality and spiritual care has often been neglected, although progress is being made. By understanding the nature of education, it is hoped that more effective methods of teaching and learning about the provision of spiritual care can be developed. Interprofessional education is an effective way of learning as such collaboration is an opportune context for the team working to ‘learn from, with and about’ each other for optimal patient care. Interprofessional education involves integration and shared learning throughout the continuum of professional education, training, and practice and is, therefore, particularly relevant to the care of people approaching the end of their life. A number of developments in the way spiritual care is taught and learned are outlined in this chapter, and the experience of a novel programme from Hospice New Zealand in Aotearoa New Zealand is explored in depth. That programme highlights the importance of understanding oneself and one’s spirituality to be able to relate human to human first, with compassionate presence, then assessing expressions of spiritual needs, which may include religious needs. Interprofessional education in spiritual care effectively addresses these needs and aligns with the realities of providing comprehensive patient/family-centred care.