The role that spirituality plays in the lives of patients has been getting more attention
in research, literature, and in the education of future physicians. Increasingly,
more studies are beginning to show an association between religion or spirituality
and health outcomes such as hypertension, recovery from surgery, coping with illness,
and the will to live [
1
,
2
,
3
]. Other authors have engaged in a debate on the strength of the research and whether
the research alone should warrant inclusion of spirituality into clinical practice
[
4
,
5
,
6
]. At a recent consensus conference on the role of spirituality and health, a diverse
group of academic physicians, chaplains, and medical ethicists acknowledged that,
from an ethical perspective, a willingness and ability to address patients' spiritual
issues, as they arise in the context of health care, is essential. The majority of
participants felt that this attention to patients' spirituality is a need, not an
amenity. Furthermore, participants felt that the recommendation for physicians to
be attentive to patients' spiritual issues comes from an ethical obligation physicians
have to treat the whole person and, in doing so, to respond compassionately to patients'
spiritual and existential concerns. Consensus meeting participants also noted that
spiritual care is not in any one person's domain, but it is the responsibility of
everyone on the health care team—the nurse, physician, social worker, and chaplain—to
address the spiritual issues of patients. Spiritual care, as with good medical care,
should be interdisciplinary care [
[7]
]. An earlier consensus group convened by the American College of Physicians concluded
that physicians should extend their care for those with serious medical illness by
attentiveness to psychosocial, existential, or spiritual suffering [
[8]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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