¶ … Healing Hospital and the Importance of Spirituality Chapman (2003) defines a Healing Hospital as being about "loving service to others" (p.4). This paper examines the concept of the Healing Hospital and the role that spiritually plays in that model.

Numerous theorists have argued that advances in technology, pressure on budgets, and drives for efficiency over the last few decades have shifted the focus of attention from general care giving to technological and pharmacological interventions, with the need to extend life and fix broken parts (Puchalski, 2001; Treloar, 2000). However, there has also been increased realisation, back by significant research, that better outcomes are achieved when the patient is treated in a holistic manner (Baboni, Puchalski, & Peteet, 2014; Puchalski & Mcskimming, 2006).

The Healing Hospital is based on the premise of treating the whole person, rather than just the illness (Chapman, 2003). This includes all physical needs, as well as emotional, social, and spiritual needs (Johnson, Abraham, & Parrish, 2004; Puchalski, 2001). Sulmasy's (2002) biopsychosocialspiritual model encompasses these different elements and is based on the ethical obligation on the medical profession to care for the whole person, including the intangible spiritual elements.

By accommodating all these different needs, a patient may be more comfortable, and healing may be enhanced (Chapman, 2003). Johnson et al. (2004) provides evidence for the benefit of controlling sound levels and providing privacy for patients and their families indicating the importance of the environment and providing for social needs.

When combined though the development of hospital organisational practices which pursue the provision of all these different elements, the hospital is adopting the Healing Hospital context (Lafferty, 2004).
This approach has led to the development of the interprofessional model that provides for spiritual care (Puchalski & Mcskimming, 2006). Spirituality plays a major role in this holistic approach, as it impacts on the outlook and interpretation of events by a patient, as well as the way care is provided by caregivers (Sulmasy, 2002). For example, where there is a high level of spirituality, it has been shown there is a greater potential for the patient to rely on their beliefs, resulting in lower levels of medication compliance (Kretchy, Owusu-Daaku, & Danquah, 2013). However, by addressing three issue of medicines from a spiritual context, not only will this increased risk of non-compliance be reduced, the patient may also be able to draw on their spiritual beliefs and concepts to support both the treatment and recovery, increasing their psychological residence and cope with pain and suffering associated with the situation (Diaz-Gilbert, 2014).

There…