Making Health Care Whole: Integrating Spirituality into Health Care

by Christina M. Puchalski and Betty Ferrell

The primary goal of the series is to explore and study the relationship between spirituality and health in a concise and readable format. It will seek to integrate spirituality into medicine on a scientific basis. It will shed new light on major contemporary issues in this fascinating area of research. It'll bridge the chasm between health and well-being on the one side and religion and spirituality on the other. It'll provide a comprehensive review of the research on the interface between medicine and spirituality. It'll also endeavour to go beyond research by offering clear, concise and helpful recommendations on how to address spiritual and health issues and how to utilize the expertise of all professionals to provide the best and most compassionate care possible.

Christina M. Puchalski, MD, is the founder and executive director of the George Washington Institute for spirituality and health, Washington, DC, and professor of medicine and health sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Puchalski is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of spirituality and health, well-known both for her twenty years of research in palliative care and interprofessional spiritual care nd for her creation of national educational and clinical models that have been emulated by leading universities and hospitals.

Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, is a research scientist at the City of Hope National Medical Center in California. She has devoted over thirty years to oncology nursing and research in the areas of quality of life, palliative care, and spiritual care. In 2007, Dr. Ferrell completed a master’s degree in theology, ethics, and culture from Claremont Graduate University, and, in 2009, she and Dr. Puchalski led a National consensus conference on improving the quality of spiritual care in palliative care.