TY - JOUR T1 - Spiritual needs assessment: the LOADS SHARED mnemonic JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 573 LP - 574 DO - 10.3399/bjgp19X706505 VL - 69 IS - 688 AU - Gordon Macdonald Y1 - 2019/11/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/69/688/573.abstract N2 - It has been suggested that offering spiritual care may be one aspect of holistic patient management.1 Most GPs acknowledge the central place that spirituality occupies in personhood, with the bi-directional relationship between spiritual wellbeing and physical health often being evident in our consultations.2 Many patients are conscious of their spiritual needs and that these may require therapeutic input.3Several spiritual care therapies have been developed to respond to these observations. Community Chaplaincy Listening (CCL) and Primary Care Chaplaincy (PCC) have been more recently described in the UK.4–6 PCC, for example, seeks to help patients address their deepest inner needs and find meaning, purpose, and orientation towards the transcendent. The emerging evidence base for PCC is gaining momentum, specifically in terms of its efficacy, relevance as a talking therapy, ability to respond to varied and complex presentations, and reduction in GP workload.4,5It seems then that there is a need for GPs to be able to assess the spiritual needs of their patients. Various tools (including FAITH, FICA, HOPE, and FACT) exist to facilitate the process of spiritual history taking.7 Do these tools, however, assess spiritual needs?Each tool shares three basic elements: Does the patient have a belief system (spiritual or religious)? Does the patient have any personal spiritual practices? And are they part of a faith community? Each tool then addresses how the patient’s spiritual views affect their medical care. The … ER -