Profs Angela Xuereb, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences
Profs Donia Baldacchino
Distinguished guests
Good afternoon,
I thank you, Professor Donia Baldacchino, for inviting me to open this conference on ethics and spirituality for health professionals.
I take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to the foreign delegates, who are in Malta specifically to attend this conference. I do hope that you will find time to visit some of the historic treasures of my country.
I congratulate the Pastoral Care Commission for Health Caregivers for bringing so many health and caring professionals together, to discuss such an important issue that has a direct bearing on people’s lives, psychologically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Spirituality is an intrinsic characteristic of humanity, through which persons seek ultimate meaning and purpose in life, which may or may not be related to religion.
It is the way we experience relationships with ourselves, our family, our significant others, our community, and nature around us. In effect, spirituality is expressed through beliefs, values, traditions, and practices.
Spirituality inspires and motivates individuals to achieve their optimal being, bringing faith, hope, peace, wellbeing and empowerment.
For Health Professionals like you, it is of paramount importance to understand the spiritual dimension of human experience, because health care is a practice-based discipline directly related to human concerns.
Although it is relevant for Health Professionals to provide spiritual care, research has suggested that health professionals identify many barriers to providing this care.
Such barriers include insufficient academic preparation, lack of post-academic training, inadequate time and human resources, and lack of privacy to counsel patients.
Yet, an understanding of the patient’s spirituality is integral to whole patient care.
The spiritual care given alongside the physical and emotional care is indeed what makes the health care profession a truly caring profession, where it is a vocation as opposed to solely a career.
As you deliberate on the ethical code of professional conduct, you need to consider allowing space for the patient’s spirituality.
The ethical code of professional conduct will guide you to safeguard your own dignity and also the dignity of the patient under your care, while maintaining a helpful professional teamwork at your place of work.
An environment which fosters teamwork and loving relationships between the health caregivers will ultimately be beneficial to the vulnerable human person who depends so much on your competence in professional care.
Patients who are spiritual may utilize their beliefs in coping with illness, pain, and life stresses.
Some studies indicate that those who are spiritual tend to have a more positive outlook and a better quality of life. The study carried out by my Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society on sustaining relationships: Couples and Singles in a Changing Society, also found that faith had a strong role in relationship satisfaction.
You may have experienced patients with advanced cancer who found comfort from their religious and spiritual beliefs, and who were more satisfied with their lives, were happier, and felt less pain.
However, patients’ religion, spirituality, personal beliefs and culture need to be incorporated in the assessment and care of patients’ holistic needs and integrity.
That is why it is so important for patients to have access to a person who can offer spiritual support, if the patient so wishes.
With this in mind, my Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society recently hosted a meeting with hospital chaplains and faith leaders to discuss the wellbeing of their respective communities during their stay in hospital.
The discussions explored ways of facilitating and improving access to spiritual care during patients’ stay in hospital.
I must say that one of the main concerns raised during this Forum was the fact that faith leaders and members of their respective religions, found it difficult to visit members of their communities in hospitals outside visiting hours.
I believe that, in tandem with the reality of our multi faith communities today, the situation has to be reviewed, with a view to allow access to the support of a spiritual leader to every patient, irrespective of their faith.
I am certain that necessary safeguards can be taken to help identification, including having a database of identified faith leaders and wearing of identification tags. The identification would give recognition to members of all faiths and would facilitate the process of identification when a request for spiritual support is made by a patient.
I augur that the barriers encountered are resolved for the benefit of all patients.
I also believe that further research is needed on the Maltese patients and their families to map out the different faiths, in order to explore further the holistic dimension of care.
It is in times of illness, and crisis situations, that individuals realise their own self-insufficiency in life which triggers the need to turn to a higher power for help and empowerment in order to cope in life.
As health caregivers, you are the first point of contact with the vulnerable individuals at this time. That is how important you are to people who live through these difficult times.
My plea to you is to treasure your own precious vocation as you are in a position to instil hope for a better outcome in their life as a result of your professional care.
I augur that you have a successful conference.
May your work guided by the professional code of ethics be a resource of faith, hope and love to all the persons under your care, so that they too may live with dignity, even when they are going through so much pain and suffering.