Standard for Spiritual Care in Healthcare Facilities
Guideline for the Use of Additional Criteria in Designing a Work System with a Spiritual Dimension to Accompany the Hospital and Healthcare Standards, 5th Edition
Background
People-centered healthcare is a key focus that the World Health Organization emphasizes and promotes for member countries to adopt in improving and developing their health systems and patient care processes. In Thailand, this concept has been put into practice by integrating a spiritual dimension into the Healthcare Accreditation (HA) process, with support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation since 2005.
Subsequently, in 2009, this integration was developed to be clearer and more systematic under the project name SHA (Sustainable Health Promotion & Healthcare Accreditation Spiritual Healthcare Appreciation). This project has operational guidelines consisting of goals, principles, and methods.
SHA integrates several components: Safety, HA Standards, Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) standards, Humanized Healthcare, the spiritual dimension, and the Sufficiency Economy concept within the healthcare system. It utilizes a process of appreciation to ensure the quality accreditation process is sustainable and meaningful for healthcare workers, patients, and the organization.
The Healthcare Accreditation Institute (Public Organization) developed the Hospital and Healthcare Standards, 5th Edition, in 2021 and announced its use for assessment and accreditation effective October 1, 2022. This version is notable for its emphasis on patient-centered care and the integration of Thailand's unique identity in the spiritual dimension, highlighting the importance of spiritual care. There is a plan to elevate the level of HA accreditation by integrating these spiritual concepts into the certification process for healthcare facilities. The goal is to formally assess the spiritual dimension as part of the quality development system for facilities that are certified under HA standards.
Based on the preceding background, the Subcommittee for Quality Accreditation Standards Development has resolved to appoint a working group to screen and draft "Additional Criteria for Designing a Work System with a Spiritual Dimension to Accompany the Hospital and Healthcare Standards, 5th Edition." This initiative aims to foster a deeper understanding of developing a hospital's work system with a spiritual dimension. It incorporates the concept of organizational quality development according to the HA standards, which includes direction-setting and organizational management components such as leadership, strategy, culture, work system development, personnel, patient care systems, and the environment. It also draws upon lessons learned from the long-term promotion of the spiritual dimension, further integrating the values and principles of HA quality development from a spiritual perspective.
Goal of Using the Additional Criteria for Designing a Work System with a Spiritual Dimension to Accompany the Hospital and Healthcare Standards, 5th Edition
To serve as a guideline for applying the 5th Edition standard in designing an appropriate work system with a spiritual dimension, and to promote quality development that integrates Thailand's unique identity in the spiritual dimension until the organization can demonstrate performance at an accepted level.
Scope and Content of the Guideline
These "Additional Criteria for Designing a Work System with a Spiritual Dimension to Accompany the Hospital and Healthcare Standards, 5th Edition" are intended for the development and assessment of the entire hospital, specifically for those that have designed their work systems with a spiritual dimension in accordance with the 5th Edition standard. It is applicable to hospitals of all levels.
The content of the standard is divided into 4 parts:
• Part I: Overview of Organizational Management, comprising Chapters I-1 to I-6.
• Part II: Key Hospital Systems, comprising Chapters II-1, II-2, and II-5.
• Part III: Patient Care Process, comprising Chapters III-1 to III-6.
• Part IV: Results.
The content within these four parts is subdivided into chapters and further expanded upon to facilitate study, learning, and reference.
Writing Format
1. Column One: Contains the topic from the respective chapter of the Hospital and Healthcare Standards (HA), 5th Edition.
2. Column Two: Provides expanded content related to the spiritual dimension, supplementing the material from the HA 5th Edition standard in Column One.
3. Column Three: Contains relevant content from the Person-Centered Care Certification standard (2020 revision) by Planetree International that corresponds to the HA 5th Edition standard.
4. Where Column Two is left blank, the additional content related to the spiritual dimension is considered to be already covered by the Hospital and Healthcare Standards (HA), 5th Edition.
Elements to be Used in Conjunction with the Standard
1. Consideration of the organization's and its departments' context in the implementation of the spiritual dimension.
2. The "Spiritual Care Guideline for Healthcare in Action: SHA".
update on August 13, 2025