1. COURSE DESCRIPTION PAS: 705 Spiritual Care in the Hospital SPRING 2017 Jerome Madumelu (PhD) jmadumelu44@gmail.com, Phone: 631-455-0086 This course locates the place of Spiritual care in health-care management/services. Central to this course is the fact that spirituality forms a significant piece of the puzzle in the holistic care of a person who happens to be sick. The study of this course assumes that everybody is spiritual irrespective of whether one is affiliated to a particular religion or not; believes in some sets of dogma or not. This course will examine what spirituality is about and identify how people of different faith orientation and backgrounds variously perceive it. A distinction has to be made between religion and spirituality. It will address not only the spirituality of the patients but also that of the care-givers. For the great assertion of Abraham Heschel states that to heal a person, one must first be a person. It will address the fact that spiritual questions often focus on issues of transcendence, meaning, values, connections/relationships, dignity, reconciliation among other values. The problems arising from whether medical personnel should be involved in the spiritual care of the patients or whether it should be an exclusive domain of the clergy and chaplains will be discussed. Ethical issues, professional expectations, philosophical and theoretical bases of spiritual care in the hospital with its interdisciplinary nature will be discussed. In all, the course is meant to advance the mission of the Holy Apostles College and Seminary which strives to cultivate lay, consecrated and ordained Catholic leaders for the purpose of evangelization. ENVISIONED LEARNING OUTCOMES 1. Students will demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the difficulties involved in defining the concept of spirituality. 2. Students are expected to know that spirituality in health-care constitutes a significant piece of the puzzle in the holistic care of the patients 3. Students are expected to know that there is a connection between the health and well-being of patients and their spirituality, cultural beliefs and practices. 4. Students should be aware that their own spirituality and cultural beliefs might affect the way they care for the sick/patients 5. Students are expected to identify the fact that patients' spirituality is the only anchor that sustains them when sickness disrupts the existing harmonious relationship within the individual's bodily health, family/relative connections and work places. 6. Students are expected to know about the interdisciplinary nature of spirituality in health-care. 3. COURSE SCHEDULE Week 1: Topic Title: Introduction Links: 1). Google and watch a Youtube link on definition of Spirituality by Cindy Wigglesworth, read chapter 3 of Puchalski and co. and read the article (by Puchalski too) below by clicking on it. 2). Christiana Puchalski and Betty Ferrell, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating spirituality into Patient care, Templeton Press, 2010, ISBN-13:978-1-59947-350-5 chapter 3 3). On the role of Spirituality in Health Care by Christiania Puchalski
Reading and listening to the above links will give you a bird's eye-view of what the course is about. In particular you are addressing the envisioned outcome numbers 1, 2 and 3. Click on the links above and answer the following questions: 1). Having watched the Youtube by Cindy Wigglesworth which tries to define spirituality and read chapter 3 of Christiana Puchalski and co., articulate, in your own way, what you understand by the term spirituality. 2). Research by Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings explained the role of spirituality in health-care, (as delivered by Christiana Puchalski) and three major areas of interest were mentioned, identify and explain each of those three areas. NB. All response to prompt questions or discussions are due by the end of every Friday of each week and student's reflection/student's response to another student discussion by Sunday midnight of each week. Please write a minimum of 500 or a maximum of 700 words for the discussion and, at least, 50 words for response to fellow student's discussion. Again, this procedure is applicable to all the weeks we have discussion and response/reflection activities. Week 2: Topic Title: Experiencing psycho-spiritual stages of dying in self and in others Kathleen Dowling Singh, The grace in dying: A message of Hope, Comfort, and Spiritual Transformation, HarperCollins publishers, 1998, ISBN:0-06-251565-9 (pp. 167-192) This reading will address particularly number 4 of the envisioned outcome and partly number 5 too. Going through the reading Kǜbler-Ross mentioned five resisting stages one has to overcome to be in touch with one's spirituality in the face of death, identify and explain each of those stages Week 3: Topic Title: Person-hood of the patient, vulnerability and dignity. Daniel P. Sulmasy, The Rebirth of the Clinic: An Introduction to Spirituality in Health Care, Georgetown University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-58901-095-6 (chapter 3). : You have read chapter 3 of the given assignment, analogically answer the following question: Can mad people, drunkards and those who were born deformed be regarded as human persons? Week 4: Topic Title: Philosophical framework supporting spiritual care in the hospital. Daniel P. Sulmasy, The Rebirth of the Clinic: An Introduction to Spirituality in Health Care, Georgetown University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-58901-095-6 (chapters 7and 8) Reading these chapters addresses the envisioned out-come number 5. : In chapter 8, Daniel P. Sulmasy tried to provide the philosophical bases on which the medical science should capture the reality that a human person is more than the body, elaborate on this assertion based on your reading. Week 5: Topic Title: Power of prayer and moral obligation to address the spiritual needs of patients Daniel P. Sulmasy, The Rebirth of the Clinic: An Introduction to Spirituality in Health Care, Georgetown University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-58901-095-6 (Chapters 9 and 10). These chapters address the envisioned outcome number 3 principally.
In the collaborative care of the patients, how would the medical team and chaplains or other pastoral care members relate to the patients? Week 6: Topic Title: Reconciliation and dignity of patients Watch this Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0ppvylgql8 : Reconciliation and dignity are two important spiritual values the dying cherishes, identify two instances where such is the case in the life of the protagonists Vivian Bearing in the You-tube. Week 7: Topic Title: Health Care system in the United States Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (5 th Edition) by United States Catholic Bishops, ISBN 978-60137-101-0 Conference of (Read the whole booklet). This reading gives a Catholic perspective on the spiritual care of those who happen to be sick, upholding their rights and dignity. It touches on almost all the six envisioned outcomes. : With this document, the United States Catholic bishops projected the healing compassion of Jesus, who directed his disciples to be compassionate as they minister. Identify those who are the special object of their compassion and give three Biblical instances where Jesus demonstrated his compassion. Week 8: Topic Title: Spiritual assessment of patients in the hospital Christiana Puchalski and Betty Ferrell, Making Health Care whole: Integrating spirituality into patient care, Templeton Press, 2010, ISBN-13:978-1-59947-350-5 (chapter 7) This reading addresses number 2 of the envisioned outcomes. : If spirituality is the essence of our humanity as Viktor Frankl wrote, does it matter in health-care? Week 9: Topic Title: Spirituality in Palliative Care Christiana Pulchalski and Betty Ferrell, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating spirituality into Patient care, Templeton Press, 2010, ISBN-13:978-1-59947-350-5 (Chapters 1 and 2). These chapters address the envisioned outcome number 5. : What role does spirituality play in palliative care? Week 10: Topic Title: Consciousness of death and its transforming power. Kathleen Dowling- Singh, The grace in dying: A message of Hope, Comfort, and Spiritual Transformation, HarperCollins publishers, 1998, ISBN:0-06-251565-9 (pp. 167 192) (pages, 4-43)
Those who work with the dying according to Kathleen D. Singh, observe certain transformations, identify some of those observable transformations as contained in your reading assignment and do you have problems with any of those mentioned transformations? Week 11: Topic Title: Awareness of One's Ego Kathleen Dowling- Singh, The grace in dying: A message of Hope, Comfort, and Spiritual Transformation, HarperCollins publishers, 1998, ISBN:0-06-251565-9 (pp. 44 63) (This reading addresses the envisioned outcomes 3 and 4) Kathleen Dowling-Singh describes many categories or levels of consciousness, two of which are the levels of belief and social contract. Explain these levels and their inherent problems when it comes to relationship with other people. Week 12: Topic Title: Interdisciplinary Nature of spiritual care in hospital management Christiana Puchalski and Betty Ferrell, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating spirituality into Patient care, Templeton Press, 2010, ISBN-13:978-1-59947-350-5 (Chapter 9) And this reading addresses the envisioned outcome number 6. : It is commonly agreed among medical professionals that many patients would like their health-care givers to take into account patient's spiritual values, identify some of those values as contained in your reading and comment on the cogency of those values with regard to health-care and wellbeing of patients. Week 13: Topic Title: Final Paper You will have, at least, a ten page final paper which you will have to submit before 12 midnight Eastern Time of the 15 th week. The paper and the preparatory activities leading to it from the 13 th week equal 50%. Direct the paper to my e-mail: jmadumelu44@gmail.com The paper should be double spaced, Times New Roman, Font 12, at least, ten pages long. The title page, endnotes and a bibliography of sources used in writing the paper. At least five sources would be referenced in your paper and you are free to use the required or recommended texts or any other of your choice in the final paper. Students who have difficulty with research and composition are encouraged to pursue assistance with the On-line Writing Lab (available at http://www.holyapostles.edu/owl). You have three weeks to construct your paper. There are two questions and you are required to choose only one. The questions are: 1) In a particular hospital, a patient complained about how a doctor cut her short when she was narrating her spiritual stories thus: Please go to the relevant, tell me about your medical problems. The human resource of this hospital sees this scenario as a teaching moment and organized an hour enlightenment forum for all the medical employees of the hospital and you are selected to deliver an enlightenment speech addressing the patient's complaint. How would you convince the medical teams of the role of spirituality in patient's care? 2. Sickness is said to have a disruptive effect not only in the bodily system of patients, but also in the family/friends relationships and in the patient's environment, such as in work places, identify instances of such disruptions, and do you think strong spirituality has a place in the coping mechanism of the patients? Feel free to email me any questions or concerns you may have regarding the class or the paper. Email me an outline of your final paper before midnight of the current Sunday.
Week 14: In not more than 100 words, summarize your final paper and e-mail it to me at jmadumelu44@gmail.com by Thursday of the 14 th week. Week 15: Submit your final paper before midnight of 22 April, 2016, Eastern Time. Thanks. 4. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Discussion Postings/ students reflections 50% Emailed outline and summary of paper -10% Final Exam 40% Weekly discussions and reflections equal 50%. They arise from the weekly posted assignments and students' reflections on the discussion postings of their colleagues. Discussions and reflections run from week 1 through week 12. All activities from week 13 through week 15 lead to the final paper. Their grading sums up to 50% as well. While doing the assignment, use a minimum of 500 or a maximum of 700 words. The response to the discussions are due by the end of every Friday as long as the activities run. Engaging in the discussion and response activities demonstrates that the student is learning and is a way of externalizing their insight and understanding of the weeks activities. Furthermore, every student is required to respond to another's posted discussion, using at least, 50 words as long as such activities run. Submission of the response is due by the end of every Sunday of the activity week. Responding to each other's discussions, students cross-pollinate ideas and build a learning community. Students are expected to take this response serious. This is a forum to demonstrate creativity, to raise stimulating questions, to object respectfully to other's ideas, civilly defend your own, compare and contrast ideas, et cetera. 5. REQUIRED READINGS and RESOURCES: Daniel P. Sulmasy, The Rebirth of the Clinic: An Introduction to Spirituality in Health Care, Georgetown University Press, 2006, $8. 82, ISBN 978-1-58901-095-6 Christiana Puchalski and Betty Ferrell, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating spirituality into Patient care, Templeton Press, 2010, cost of fairly used book, $8. 21, ISBN-13:978-1-59947-350-5 Kathleen Dowling- Singh, The grace in dying: A message of Hope, Comfort, and Spiritual Transformation, HarperCollins publishers, 1998, Cost of fairly used book, $5. 91, ISBN:0-06-251565-9 Ethical and Religious Directive for Catholic Health Care Services (5 th Edition) by United States conference of Catholic Bishops, Cost of the book, $1. 98, ISBN 978-60137-101-0 6. SUGGESTED READINGS and RESOURCES: Daniel Hurley, Facing Pain, Finding Hope: A physician Examines Pain, Faith, And The Healing Stories of Jesus, Loyola Press, Chicago, Cost: $3. 80, ISBN 0-8294-1780 -X Daniel P. Sulmasy, The Healer's Calling: A Spirituality for Physicians and Other Health Care Professionals, Paulist Press, 1997, Cost: $4.06, ISBN0-8091-3729-1 Dorothy K. Monks, Treasuring Life: Befriending death, St. Paul's Press, 2008 ISBN 13:978-0-8189-1260-3 7. EVALUATION GRADING SCALE: A 94-100; A- 90-93; B+ 87-89; B 84-86; B- 80-83; C+ 77-79; C 74-76; C- 70-73 D 60-69; F 59 and below There are two categories to A grade, three to B and C grades, one to D and F grades. Your score determines where you fall in.
Discussion postings/student reflections: A: On topic, insightful understanding of the concepts, well written and organized, connects concepts of the discipline to a wider concepts, contributes to the communal learning, maintains between 500 to 700 words in the discussion. Student's reflection is, at least, 50 words and contributes to the communal learning. B: Meets the requirement in A but fails to make connections to a wider concepts and did not contribute to a communal learning. Student's reflection is short of 50 words and contributes nothing. C: On topic, adequate understanding of concepts but is neither organized nor well written. Students reflection is absent. D: Inadequate understanding, not on topic, no connection of concepts and no meaningful contribution to communal learning. F: Lack understanding, meets other attributes of D Final Paper: A= Excellent: Analysis is a thorough response to the topic, creative, well-organized, compelling argument, error free grammar and punctuations, appropriate use of sources B= Solid and interesting: Adequate response to the topic, persuasive organization and development, clear and appropriate examples, and mastery of grammar C= Acceptable but could improve: Uneven response to parts of the topic, satisfactory organization, but more development needed, overall control of grammar D= A mix of strengths and weaknesses: (episodic writing), Noticeable neglect of analysis, misinterprets the topic, weak organization and development, distracting errors in grammar. F= Writing difficult to understand, Analysis fails to address the topic, confusing organization and development, unacceptable number of errors in grammar. 8. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY Students at Holy Apostles College & Seminary are expected to practice academic honesty. Avoiding Plagiarism In its broadest sense, plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas, presented or claimed as your own. At this stage in your academic career, you should be fully conscious of what it means to plagiarize. This is an inherently unethical activity because it entails the uncredited use of someone else's expression of ideas for another's personal advancement; that is, it entails the use of a person merely as a means to another person s ends. Students, where applicable: Should identify the title, author, page number/webpage address, and publication date of works when directly quoting small portions of texts, articles, interviews, or websites. Students should not copy more than two paragraphs from any source as a major component of papers or projects. Should appropriately identify the source of information when paraphrasing (restating) ideas from texts, interviews, articles, or websites. Should follow the Holy Apostles College & Seminary Stylesheet (available on the Online Writing Lab s website at http://www.holyapostles.edu/owl/resources). Consequences of Academic Dishonesty: Because of the nature of this class, academic dishonesty is taken very seriously. Students participating in academic dishonesty may be removed from the course and from the program. 9. ATTENDANCE POLICY
Even though you are not required to be logged in at any precise time or day, you are expected to login several times during each week. Because this class is being taught entirely in a technology-mediated forum, it is important to actively participate each week in the course. In a traditional classroom setting for a 3-credit course, students would be required to be in class 3 hours a week and prepare for class discussions 4.5 hours a week. Expect to devote at least 7 quality hours a week to this course. A failure on the student s part to actively participate in the life of the course may result in a reduction of the final grade. 10. INCOMPLETE POLICY An Incomplete is a temporary grade assigned at the discretion of the faculty member. It is typically allowed in situations in which the student has satisfactorily completed major components of the course and has the ability to finish the remaining work without reenrolling, but has encountered extenuating circumstances, such as illness, that prevent his or her doing so prior to the last day of class. To request an incomplete, distance-learning students must first download a copy of the Incomplete Request Form. This document is located within the Shared folder of the Files tab in Populi. Secondly, students must fill in any necessary information directly within the PDF document. Lastly, students must send their form to their professor via email for approval. Approval should be understood as the professor responding to the student s email in favor of granting the Incomplete status of the student. Students receiving an Incomplete must submit the missing course work by the end of the sixth week following the semester in which they were enrolled. An incomplete grade (I) automatically turns into the grade of F if the course work is not completed. Students who have completed little or no work are ineligible for an incomplete. Students who feel they are in danger of failing the course due to an inability to complete course assignments should withdraw from the course. A W (Withdrawal) will appear on the student s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the first week of a semester to the end of the third week. A WF (Withdrawal/Fail) will appear on the student s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the third week of a semester and on or before the Friday before the last week of the semester. 11. ABOUT YOUR PROFESSOR My name is Jerome Madumelu. I am a Catholic priest born and raised in Nigeria. I had my first degrees in philosophy and theology and worked for ten years in Nigeria prior to furthering my studies in the United States of America. I got my Masters in Theology in 2004 at St. John's University, Queens, New York, and became a board certified chaplain in the same year. I have served for thirteen years as a chaplain in Good Samaritan Medical Hospital in Long Island of New York. I have a vast experience regarding issues affecting the care of patients such as the end of life issues, palliative care, spirituality of suffering and the intricate relationship existing among the patients, family members and medical personnel. I had my doctoral degree in Social Welfare at Stony Brook University of New York in 2014. I organized, fund-raised and went on a medical mission to Nigeria with a team of medical personnel. My dissertation topic is: "Widowhood in two Igbo communities of Nigeria: A contextual manipulation of patriarchy." The question of justice for the marginalized of the earth is a real concern for me. Researching on women issues is part of my agenda in addressing the issues of injustice among us. I do believe that women are a part of the marginalized segments of humanity. I have attended many academic conferences and symposia. I hope we make this academic journey worthwhile.