In search of models of care

Most hospice programs list “spiritual support” among the characteristics of hospice care, but then avoid defining it except in ambiguous ways. The author argues that without careful definition of “spiritual,” hospice care will be little different in quality from that offered in acute and chronic care centers. The “spiritual quest” is defined as a unifying and integrating process that permits a human being to be oriented to wholeness or dignity. Also discussed is the challenge to hospice care staff to defy trends in recent health care that allow staff rather than patients to determine what dignity means, thereby making the patient an object rather than a subject.