Doctors must learn all aspects of spirituality
Friday 12th June 2009: Spiritual, religious, and cultural beliefs and practices play a significant role in the lives of patients who are seriously ill and dying, said Dr KK Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation of India and Director IMAAKN Sinha Institute, Dr Ashwani Dalmia Secretary DNA and Dr V K Goel Secretary IMA Central Delhi Branch in a press conference organized in the city here today.
The press conference to be held in association with World Fellowship for Religion was organized to unveil the details of a day long conference being organized on Sunday for 300 doctors on “meditation, prayer and medications” and to be held at Acharya Sushil Muni Ashram Defense Colony. The doctors will be taught the importance of prayer, meditation and spiritual needs of the patients.
In addition to providing an ethical foundation for clinical decision making, spiritual and religious traditions provide a conceptual framework for understanding the human experience of death and dying, and the meaning of illness and suffering.
The importance of spiritual and religious beliefs in coping with illness, suffering, and dying is supported by clinical studies as well as individual narrative descriptions.
Most patients derive comfort from their religious and spiritual beliefs as they face the end of life, and some find reassurance through a belief in continued existence after physical death.
However, religious concerns can also be a source of pain and spiritual distress, for example, if a patient feels punished or abandoned by God.
A common goal for the dying patient, family members, and the health care professional is for a meaningful dying experience. Such an experience includes support for the patient's suffering, the avoidance of undesired artificial prolongation of life, involvement of family and/or close friends, resolution of remaining life conflicts, and attention to spiritual issues that surround the meaning of illness and death.
Although doctors lack the expertise to address spiritual concerns in depth, they should be able to discuss spirituality with their patients and identify those in spiritual distress so that appropriate referral may be made to spiritual care providers.
A spiritual history should be recorded as part of a new patient evaluation, and spiritual issues readdressed periodically through the course of the illness.
For patients facing the end of life, spiritual care is interdisciplinary collaborative care, and requires the participation of all members of the healthcare team. Clinicians should clarify the patient's concerns, beliefs, fears, and spiritual needs, and be sensitive to comments that may indicate spiritual distress. Active listening and supportive dialogue may help patients work through existential issues and find peace. Patients who are in spiritual distress should be referred to certified and trained spiritual care professionals such as chaplains, spiritual directors, pastoral counselors and clergy.