Doctoring
Doctors who take time to explore their patients' spiritual beliefs may help both their patients and themselves. They not only gain the patient's trust but also elicit more clinically relevant information. As a result, they make better diagnoses and may speed their patients' recovery from illness, say two researchers at Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College.
"It's amazing that doctors feel comfortable asking patients detailed questions about their sex life but not about whether they go to church," says medical sociologist Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D., and physician Shimon Waldfogel, M.D., who interviewed colleagues and patients about their experiences.
When doctors fail to broach the issue of religion, patients get the subtle message that certain aspects of their lives are not appropriate to discuss in a medical setting. This silence not only sends a message that the doctor is unsympathetic, but also may discourage the patient from sharing crucial information about everything from dietary habits to coping mechanisms.
