Return to table of contents Domain 6 – Spiritual Support for Patients/Families Assess and document spiritual needs of the patient and family on an on-going basis: Ask patient and/or family key spiritual assessment questions, e.g., “Are you actively involved in a spiritual/religious community? Do you want to see and talk with a pastoral care representative?” Document assessments. Encourage access to spiritual resources: Include a “pastoral care consult assessment” category on physician Comfort Care Order form. Document access to spiritual resources. Elicit and facilitate spiritual and cultural practices which the patient and family find comforting: When the patient is imminently dying, if spiritual issues are paramount with the patient and/or family, include the appropriate pastoral care representative who understands the patient’s and/or family’s spiritual goals or unfinished issues in clinical team discussions. Return to table of contents  Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care was a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families.