The Malta Lecture

INTEGRATING RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY INTO CLINICAL PRACTICE: AN OVERVIEW

Prof. Harold G. Koenig, MD

Duke University Medical Center (Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences) & Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health

Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Distinguished Adjunct Professor

King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Dr. Koenig will begin by defining what "spiritual needs" are. He will then examine why it is important for health professionals to identify and address the spiritual need of patients, and how to accomplish this in a busy, time-pressured medical setting. He will discuss which health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers, or chaplains) should be responsible for conducting a spiritual history and mobilizing resources to meet patients' spiritual needs. Dr. Koenig will then examine some of the barriers to addressing patients' spiritual needs, including a lack of knowledge about how spiritual needs relate to medical outcomes, lack of time to address spiritual needs, and especially, lack of training on how to do so. He will also review recent efforts by U.S. healthcare systems to integrate spirituality into patient care, and to what extent the spirituality of the health care provider may influence their capacity to provide whole person, compassionate care.

The slides: PDF document