Although medicine and religion are typically separate domains, patients sometimes want to bring them together.
For many patients, turning to prayer during their recovery or in a situation of a bad prognosis is natural and comforting. However, this may create a conundrum for the treating physician. He or she may disagree with the patient's beliefs or feel that praying is diverting the patient from making necessary lifestyle changes. Or perhaps the physician does not want to have that kind of spiritual/personal interaction with a patient.
Conversely, some physicians are happy enough to participate in prayer and feel, "If it helps the patient's recovery, why not?"
"Patient surveys[1] show that patients welcome prayer from their nurse or physician, especially in the case of greater illness severity," according to Michael Balboni, PhD, ThM, MDiv, instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"The dichotomy between the doctor who takes care of the body and the priest who takes care of the soul doesn't exist for some patients," he says.
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