Values in Care

    Audience view

    Clinician

    Use source-linked decision support, communication frameworks, and domain evidence while keeping the person's own priorities visible.

    See your starting page

    Starting points

    A smaller set of paths for this role.

    These are navigation choices, not assumptions about what every person in this role needs.

    Decision GuideA patient-facing preparation workflow that surfaces priorities and questions without generating treatment recommendations.Communication & Shared DecisionsEvidence and practical framing for values-centered healthcare conversations.Evidence IndexEvery published claim, filterable and source-linked.Care DimensionsCross-journey entry points plus deeper domain-specific evidence where coverage is mature.

    Selected material

    Islam: Clinician Quick Guide for Serious Illness and Dying

    Concise clinical guidance on Muslim beliefs and practices relevant to serious illness, use of opioids, life-support decisions, and organ donation.

    • Explore how the patient understands illness in relation to tawakkul and sabr, and whether they frame suffering as a spiritual test, while still affirming that Islam encourages seeking medical treatment.
    • Ask specifically about priorities around alertness vs. pain control, noting that many Muslim patients accept opioids when reassured they will still be able to pray and, if possible, recite the Shahada.
    • Clarify views on life-sustaining treatment and DNR orders; reference statements from IMANA and other bodies that permit withdrawing futile treatment once death is deemed inevitable by qualified physicians.
    • When organ donation is raised, acknowledge that reputable Islamic councils permit it in principle but differ on brain-death; offer to connect families with trusted scholars or resources such as the FCNA fatwa.
    • Coordinate with chaplaincy and community imams early in the course of serious illness, not only in the final hours, to support spiritual coping and decision-making.

    Core Spiritual Care Skills for Clinicians (All Traditions)

    Cross-cutting spiritual care skills for clinicians caring for patients and families from diverse religious and secular backgrounds.

    • The NCP Guidelines and EAPC white paper frame spiritual care as a core competency for all palliative clinicians, not only chaplains.
    • Brief spiritual screening and history tools can identify patients at risk of spiritual distress and those with strong spiritual strengths, guiding chaplain referral.
    • Evidence suggests that addressing spirituality is associated with better quality of life and may mitigate depression and suicidal ideation in serious illness.
    • Foundational skills include compassionate presence, reflective listening, respectful inquiry into beliefs and values, and collaboration with specialist spiritual care professionals.
    • Educational initiatives should integrate simulated conversations, interprofessional learning, and case-based reflection on complex spiritual and ethical dilemmas.

    Goals of Care Conversations in Serious Illness

    Evidence-based communication practices for leading goals-of-care conversations, aligned with CAPC training pathways.

    • Goals-of-care conversations, when conducted early, are associated with improved quality of life, better patient and family satisfaction, more goal-concordant care, and lower unwanted interventions.
    • Structured approaches emphasize building rapport, assessing understanding, eliciting values and hopes, responding to emotion, and then proposing a plan that aligns with patient priorities.
    • CAPC's communication curriculum and conversation scripts offer stepwise frameworks and language for clinicians across disciplines.
    • Training should address cultural and faith diversity, including how to integrate spiritual concerns and differing understandings of a 'good death' into shared decision-making.

    Values in Care uses audience views to reduce navigation load. They do not change the evidence standard or infer an individual's preferences.