# data[].attributes.body
It has been interesting to learn that the chaplains in the health care system and other medical personnel have standardized assessment tools for the objective assessment of the spirituality/ religion of their patients inclusive of the HOPE assessment tool, where the H finds the sources of hope, strength, comfort, meaning, peace, love and connection, O investigates the role of organized religion for the patient, P investigates the person’s spirituality ad practices, the E searches for the effects on medical care and end of life decision as outlined in the article ‘ Spirituality and Medical practice: Using the  HOPE questions as a practical tool for spiritual assessment. Of note, reported in the article was information  that physician’s are less spiritual/ religious than their patients and so possibly introducing a dilemma as patients want to be asked these questions and provide responses that easily can assist in their wholistic medical management but if the physicians don’t subscribe to the idea then a big problem exist.

# data[].attributes.body
What do I say?
What do I say?
(Joan Hollis)
 I agree with Gail that 
Spirituality and medical practice (Ogwu Susan)
Spirituality and medical practice (Ogwu Susan)
According to Dr Anandarajah, if spirituality is done responsibly, the practice of medicine may be the best arena for integrating science and spirituality. Although spiritual care may not be easily measurable, the physician’s ability to connect, show compassion and offer presence will certainly improve care and provide numerous positive benefits for the patient and the health industry as a whole.  As we create an environment of trust through listening, feeling and reflecting techniques, we earn the opportunity to perform spiritual assessment which may be formal using tools like HOPE assessment or informal through listening for clues that indicate that the patient is struggling with spiritual needs. Also the informal assessment can be supported with the seven guidelines given by Dr Elizabeth Johnson on what to say to patients going through spiritual distress.

The article on prayer research revealed different results on the effectiveness of prayer. However the conclusions drawn from the study agrees with what Dr Anandarajah which says science cannot fully understand some things in spirituality. we should keep an open mind to research and explore more of the positive advantages that spirituality brings to health.

What Do I Say?
What Do I Say? 
- Gail 
We as health care professionals have an opportunity to assist patients in refining their beliefs and feelings if we but knew how to do that. This video gives examples of what to do and many examples of what not to do. It is by watching someone do it badly that we might identify ourselves and do it better next time. It seems so natural that we would say and do the right thing. The silencing responses were very disrespectful of the patient and his/her personhood. The head responses again, did not advance the patient's identification of feelings. The self disclosure examples are ones we hear everyday in the clinic. The self disclosure leaving the ball in the patient's court will keep the focus on the patient. I liked the self disclosure suggested response of "I hear that you are asking me about my beliefs, but before I do that, what do you think?" It acknowledges that the patient asked the caregiver her thoughts, but her own thoughts on it would more affect the outcome of her care. This response helps keep the focus on that, not on a possibly judgemental opinion from the caregiver. I particularly liked the journaling responses. The physician was able to let the patient know he heard her and her concerns, he gave her a valid tool to explore her feelings and promised to follow up with her at the next visit.  The pressure of the work needing to be done could easily have prevented the caregiver from doing his best work for the patient spiritually.   

Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test - Anne
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test - Anne
"Science is not designed to study the supernatural. I agree with this statement. I actually would reverse this. God designed science to be studied by us to learn more about Him and His creation. Science puts items into boxes and does not allow exploration of other concepts that could have occurred during the research project. When doing the research project, they only looked at one aspect of prayer. What about a person's mental health despite the complications. They could have had peace despite having complications post their surgery.  Or their pain could have been less despite having complications.  The research project did not explore other areas that prayer could have helped the patients.  The research did not show the whole picture that prayer could do.  
What Should I Say: Kalpana What Should I Say is a question that every medical staffs are challenged with in response to the patient’s spiritual need to face and overcome the medical conditions. This video was very informative with real life challenging situations and scenarios and gives an insight on how a medical staff should respond to the patient. It shows how the spiritual pain that is within the patient is brought to the surface while interacting with the medical staffs and how the medical staffs should respond to the patient in order to cater to the spiritual needs of a patient. The video has provided with the guidelines for the health care practioners to follow and how micro skills in dealing with the patients will help the medical staffs to focus on the spiritual feelings and not on the medical condition. It also states that the conversation goal should always be in the patient’s court and the medical staffs need to be an empathetic listener.The video mentions about the universal spiritual need like the healthy relationships, purpose and meaning of life, being true to self and how this spiritual need creates spiritual pain and should be dealt in a very positive, compassionate and kind way and not being negative or ignoring to meet the spiritual need of the patient.
What Should I Say: Kalpana What Should I Say is a question that every medical staffs are challenged with in response to the patient’s spiritual need to face and overcome the medical conditions. This video was very informative with real life challenging situations and scenarios and gives an insight on how a medical staff should respond to the patient. It shows how the spiritual pain that is within the patient is brought to the surface while interacting with the medical staffs and how the medical staffs should respond to the patient in order to cater to the spiritual needs of a patient. The video has provided with the guidelines for the health care practioners to follow and how micro skills in dealing with the patients will help the medical staffs to focus on the spiritual feelings and not on the medical condition. It also states that the conversation goal should always be in the patient’s court and the medical staffs need to be an empathetic listener.The video mentions about the universal spiritual need like the healthy relationships, purpose and meaning of life, being true to self and how this spiritual need creates spiritual pain and should be dealt in a very positive, compassionate and kind way and not being negative or ignoring to meet the spiritual need of the patient.
CNN Prayer Article and Koenig on Cardio- Hollis
CNN Prayer Article and Koenig on Cardio- Hollis
“Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test” has a problem with construct validity. Whether or not cardiac patients have complications post operatively is not a direct function of whether or not someone else prayed for the patient OR whether or not the patient was aware that someone prayed for him/her. Complications have to do with risk factors. For example, is I choose to continually over eat and become obese, I am at risk for complications post operatively that my other study participants may or may not be subject to because of their lifestyle choices. God loves us all the same and prayer is miraculously powerful, but my choices have been “away” or “other than” God for my whole pre-op life. So prayer is not some magic bullet we take to stave off the consequences of our actions. A better measure may have been the diastolic blood pressure, as Koenig writes in Chapter 8. 

Prayer is not demanding that God do for me what I will not do for myself (paraphrased from Thomas Merton- Catholic writer). Prayer is uniting my mind and heart to God. Koenig describes a positive correlation with religiousness and better cardiac markers. Maybe that’s the better question.

What should I say? Mamata
What should I say? Mamata 
The video “what do I say” is a great resource and can help the healthcare givers to understand the concept of spiritual suffering and also the effective ways to deal with it. We often witness spiritual pain that the patient expresses by opening up in their own ways and in such scenarios, we struggle to give appropriate response. The demonstrations in the video are so realistic and I could relate to those situations and also learn how to engage patients for spiritual healing. The guidelines for developing micro skills for spiritual healing are also very helpful. As a healthcare professional we need to promote spiritual awareness and help the patient to experience the existence to the fullest. 

“Empathy is walking a mile in somebody else's moccasins. Sympathy is being sorry their feet hurt.”
                                     -Rebecca O'Donnell

What should I say? Shikha
What should I say? Shikha
The video was very interesting and informative. It focuses on listening to the patients was very intriguing. Also, the importance of meditation is an integral part of Hindu teachings. It is a proven fact that meditation has beneficial effects on stress, hypertension, Cardiovascular diseases and so on. What we seem to be forgetting is that Religion is about faith and not proof. this is close to my heart because when I came across people who were shocked that I was not a Christian asked me ridiculous questions like, “What is the proof that your religion exists?" or "Who was the founder of your religion" Or "How can you say your Religion is one of the oldest Religions" to name a few.
            One important thing from the video was to create a spiritual awareness in patients.
Inner peace can often be found in places where we find comfort. Temples are often seen as an architectural marvel, but they are also spiritual centres built in a way that one can connect the spiritual core as one with the God, becoming one with them.
I think incorporating HOPE assessment could be a great way of including spiritual assessment for appropriate patients.

Koenig Chap. 6, page 90 [Hirving]
Koenig Chap. 6, page 90 [Hirving]
"Higher levels of spirituality and religiosity were associated with better immune function"

What do I say?
What do I say?
The video "what do I say" was a reminder of how we as caregivers, providers can have immense impact on our patients' spiritual pain. Being a witness to other people's spiritual pain can make us feel vulnerable whether in the role as a health care professional or through personal relations. Focus must be on the patient or the person who is feeling the spiritual pain and the present. To be fully empathetically available, we ourselves must be open, present, and balanced. 

What should I say video (Farhaad)
What should I say video (Farhaad)
The video “what do I say” was very informative and tedious at the same time. It spoke about both positive and negative responses used by medical professionals when they were to interact with patients who are suffering spiritually.  It made me wonder if I said the right things to some of my previous patients and how I can improve my self further. One thing that struck me from the video is to listen very carefully to the patients and give a positive response. Although I am a firm believer of individual first, then patient. I have found that considering someone as first an individual, then a patient has actually help speed the recovery exponentially. 

Meditation on the other hand, has shown to reduce blood pressure, reduce heart rate and improve the immune system. It also helps reduce stress and depression. 

Spirituality and Medical Practice - HOPE Assessment (Gutierrez)
Spirituality and Medical Practice - HOPE Assessment (Gutierrez) 
"Spirituality is an important, multidimensional aspect of the human experience that is difficult to fully understand or measure using the scientific method, yet convincing evidence in the medical literature supports its beneficial role in the practice of medicine."
Prayer and healing (Borko)
Prayer and healing (Borko)

"... we must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence.


Where does this leave us? God may indeed exist and prayer may indeed heal; however, it appears that, for important theological and scientific reasons, randomized controlled studies cannot be applied to the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing. In fact, no form of scientific enquiry presently available can suitably address the subject. Therefore, the continuance of such research may result in the conducted studies finding place among other seemingly impeccable studies with seemingly absurd claims (Renckens et al.[42] 2002). Whereas we have attempted to be scientifically and politically correct in our critique, other authors, such as Dawkins,[43] have been humorous, nay even scathing, in their criticism.


The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error (attr., Galileo[44])."

"What should I say" Juliette
"What should I say" Juliette
The video “What do I say - Talking to Patients About Spirituality” by Taylor (2017) shared both negative and positive responses used by clinician when interacting with patients. The video was helpful in that it shared common responses and reactions to life’s questions that patients may ask as they try to cope with their illness, fears, and concerns. Many great examples were provided to guide the dialogue between the medical staff and the patient. Such dialog may include questions such as “Why would a loving God allow this to happen to me?” Spiritual pain takes on many forms. 
 
Seven techniques were presented that are helpful and healing. Spiritual healing incorporates: Intellectual awareness of spirituality by using restatement, openness, storytelling techniques; emotional awareness of spirituality by asking open questions about feelings and reflection of feeling; body awareness of spirituality using body listening and some religious practices. Human needs include meaning and purpose, the need to transcend self, healthy relationships, and being true to self.    
 
Healing techniques incorporates letting the patient talk with little interruption while trying not over talking or interjecting personal perspectives. The use of open questions allows the patient to clarify and explore thought or feeling. Use open question sparingly. Reflective feeling uses word like “I am disappointed or” maybe you feel like a flower that has not blossom”. Self-disclosure – do not disclose to gratify your needs but access why they are asking, i.e. always return the ball in the patent’s court. Keep disclosure short. Do not side step the patient’s issues, use story listeners – help patient connect to the present and privately consider questions that will help the patient. Taylor also encouraged the use religious practices using ethical guidelines. Understand your own wishes and beliefs and participate in the patient’s religious practice only if fits with your beliefs. Respect the patient’s wishes as JACHO mandates asking the patient spiritual questions in support with their religious practices. Summarize techniques to help patient gain awareness of their spirituality. Finally, remember that compassion can compensate for talking techniques and remember that there is a power greater than self that does the healing. 
 
Reference
Johnston-Taylor, E. (2007). Templeton Foundation Press 2007
Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials (Smart-White
Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials (Smart-White
“Prayer is a special form of meditation and may therefore convey all the health benefits that have been associated with meditation. Prayer may be supported by varying degrees of faith and may therefore be associated with all the benefits. Prayer may be associated with health improvements that result from spontaneous remission, regression to the mean, nonspecific psychosocial support, the Hawthorne effect and the Rosenthal effect. Prayer may result in benefits that are due to divine intervention”.
Spirituality and Health Practice (Hazel)
Spirituality and Health Practice (Hazel)
 "If done responsibly, the practice of medicine may be the best arena for integrating science and spirituality." Our goal should be to promote spiritual awareness in patients and assist them to experience existence more fully. 

"What should I say"- Sarathy
"What should I say"- Sarathy
It was a very good lesson learned personally by listening to Dr. Elizabeth Taylor, it was an eye opener for me. I am working in SNF facility and encountering the same scenario every day minimum one patient, and I am sure I did not give response to enhance spiritual awareness to assist in spiritual healing. I thought those resident needs medication and psycho social support, most of times I reached out to Physician and Nurse, they had replied to me saying that they will add some medications.

I knew that meditation and prayer have health benefits, now its time to really focus on educating my patients on these areas with empathetic fashion. Take home message for me after watching that video was raising spiritual awareness by giving positive response to patients after carefully listening to them with good heart, try not to turn down their spiritual pain questions, putting the ball in patients court itself and focus on patient not on the pathology or diagnosis.

As we are in health care, how many of us know to meditate, I would assume very minimal. First of all, we should realize and feel the benefit to integrate in our practice. For this we need proper training in these areas. In modern medicine they call it as alternative medicine, I think everyone in health care should start integrating this in every day’s practice. As an example, we all knew that exercise and hypertensive medication in combination will help in reducing higher blood pressure, similarly Meditation also helps in reducing blood pressure, but how many of Physician encouraging meditation for their patients. My point here is due to lack of self-realization and efficient training on these areas costing a lot in chronic illness. 

After this spirituality class, for sure I will start going to temple as often as possible to teach my kid about religion and its core values, I hope that will bring inner peach in our life.

Prayer and Healing- Andrij Ferguson
Prayer and Healing- Andrij Ferguson
“In the broadest sense, prayer describes thoughts, words or deeds that address or petition a divine entity or force.” This week’s content brings to mind a Montreal landmark that I first visited as a child. St-Joseph’s Oratory was founded in 1904 by Brother Andre. Brother Andre welcomed thousands of sick and distressed people, listened to them, prayed for them and recommended that they pray to Saint Joseph. He was canonized in 2010 and also given the title of Patron Saint of Family Caregivers in Canada in 2016. What struck me most about my first visit many years ago were the many walls covered with hanging canes, crutches and wheelchairs- allegedly left behind by those cured. “Although the very consideration of such a possibility may appear scientifically bizarre, it cannot be denied that, across the planet, people pray for health and for relief of symptoms in times of sickness. Healing through prayer, healing through religious rituals, healing at places of pilgrimage and healing through related forms of intervention are well-established traditions in many religions.”

Points from -Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on RCT's (Hina)
Points from -Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on RCT's (Hina)
I found the following questions in the article very interesting which got me thinking:

a. If the faith or conviction of the persons who pray is important, does God value the beliefs of the petitioners more than the merits of the petitions?

b. If the personal characteristics and qualities of the persons who pray (or the persons who are being prayed for) are important, are some people more equal before God than other people? Religions portray God as being compassionate; what sort of compassion is displayed by the selective favoring of an experimental over a control group?

And to these questions I found a witty but a sensible answer which is given below.

Of course God does value our beliefs as well as our merits, and God is definitely compassionate to treat us with love and shower his mercy upon those who ask for forgiveness. We should believe that God will do justice to all of us and without any hesitation  we should put all our faith and trust in his eternal power.

Above all, “we must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This also implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence.”

Prayer and healing (Jacqlene)
Prayer and healing (Jacqlene)
Meditation and breathing has shown to lower blood pressure, reduces heart rate, improves the immune system and many other factors. It helps reduce stress and improves the health of a person. It has shown to reduce the chances  of a person suffering from depression. If one can practice meditation and breathing in every day life, they can improve their health a lot and help preven various diseases
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test (Memory)
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test (Memory)
Within the Christian tradition, God would be expected to be concerned with a person’s eternal salvation, he said, and  “Why would God change His plans for a particular person just because they’re in a research study?”


Do we need a God figure to invoke the healing energy within us? – Pugazhenthi Narasimhan (Pugi)“From a scientific perspective, if prayer is indeed considered to work, thought should also be given to the possibility that it may not require a deity. It may, instead, invoke some hitherto unidentified mental energy that has healing power1”. A very strong message by the author emphasising the power of prayers in healing, with no bias on specific religion. Reference:1. Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.
Do we need a God figure to invoke the healing energy within us? – Pugazhenthi Narasimhan (Pugi)“From a scientific perspective, if prayer is indeed considered to work, thought should also be given to the possibility that it may not require a deity. It may, instead, invoke some hitherto unidentified mental energy that has healing power1”. A very strong message by the author emphasising the power of prayers in healing, with no bias on specific religion.  Reference:1.	Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.
Amr Abdelaziz
Amr Abdelaziz 
INFORMAL AND FORMAL SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT
 
Informal spiritual assessment may be accomplished at any time during the medical encounter but the formal one has to be specified and asking specific questions during the medical assessment or first visit to determine if the patient has spiritual background could affect the health care plan and  outcome or not.
The informal spiritual assessment involves the listening carefully to the patient’s stories first regarding to the illness or live as a general then interpreting the spiritual issues, but for the formal one, the patient has to answer some questions in different formats for conducting a formal spiritual assessment.
Sometimes, there are some clues will reflect the struggling of the patient with spiritual issues such as search for meaning, feelings of connection versus isolation, hope versus hopelessness, fear of the unknown, this a kind of informal spiritual assessment findings.
 
Spirituality and Medical Practice: Using the HOPE Questions as a Practical Tool for Spiritual Assessment, Gowri Anandarajah, 2001.
 
I prefer the informal spiritual assessment first to figure out if my patient is willing to cooperate and interesting in conducting this kind of the assessment regarding to his/her religion of his/her spirituality , then if the patient feels comfortable and starts to open up to me, then the next step is the formal assessment to be easy for me as a medical provider and for him to feel comfort toward these kind of the questions related to the inner background of religions or spirituality.
what do I say video
what do I say video
(Brian Verville)
I found the video although a little dry to really be informative and giving real life issues and how I have seen medical professionals respond to patients. It also made me reflect on how I have responded to patients that I encounter to the needs although I may not have noticed in the past. It really made me reflect and realize that sometimes we need to listen really listen to what our patients are saying and to the meaning behind what they are expressing. expressing is the key to the communication with out patients who are experiencing a difficult time.. It gave perspective as to if our patients are speaking from the head or the heart and a good statigie to respond appropriately. What I really got from the video was that we need to be more humanistic in our responses and really listen to what is being expressed. One example as simple as it is when the patient expressed she felt like she was hit by a mack truck was not to play it off what to delve a bit deeper and get to the root. a good response was to get the patient to further describe her feeling and to journal on this feeling and what it would take to get that feeling relieved. This would allow the patient to understand the pressure, and open further communication about her feelings to allow that conversation to open a dialogue 
reagarding her feelings and have a plan to ease the pressure.. I gave good cues for the clinician to recognize weather they were 
speaking from the hear or the head and a good tool on how to appropriately respond. My feeling was that it reminds the clinician no matter what field they are in to take a humanistic response and to communicate and converse with our patients even if it is outside of the scientific realhm. We need to take the time to account for the what they are feeling and open ourselves up and be present while they are expressing there feelings and concerns. From the article preyer and healing article I found interest in the final statements The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error (Galileo) in that we can not perform a randomized controlled studies on the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing... this speaks to the studies done on patients going though heart surgery that some knew they were prayed for and other new they may be prayed. It does not address the need for prayer and the fact that they were prayed for from a distance. It is too literal. Prayer and faith are very personal and intimate and need to have the person being prayed for involved. We can not put science in front of Gods way. The article spoke to the fact science will not dictate Gods will and his plan for us all. This article really brings to light the need to understand that God has a plan for us all. These studies try to look beyond Gods plan for us and see if science can overcome his plan which it can not. I really feel that yes addressing the whole person and taking time to listen and respond in an appropriate way understanding and accounting for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of our patient is really practicing whole health. I also understand and feel that this article defines that just because we pray we may not be able to heal the physical illness but do believe we can have a larger impact in healing the spiritual, emotional, and mental components involved in our patients illness..
Prayer and Healing: the foolishness of man - Justin
Prayer and Healing: the foolishness of man - Justin
While the outcomes of prayer intervention shared in the article “Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials” were not significant, I felt that it did a great job at presenting the “pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic” descriptors of prayer that might be considered ‘independent or confounding variables” in any study (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).  The article stated that we “must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence” (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).  
 
While I would not agree that God is indifferent to humanity, I would agree that he transcends human limitations and is not subject to human processes.  I feel the study would be restricted if prayer was considered a process where humans dictated to God their desires with the full expectation that God would respond in each situation according to the will of man. 
 
“The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error”. - Attributed to Galileo (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).
 

Reference:
 
Andrade, C., & Radhakrishnan, R. (2009, Oct-Dec). Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4), 247-253.
 

 
Measuring the unmeasurable (Ashwin)
Measuring the unmeasurable (Ashwin)
The following quote amply describes the futility in bringing mathematical, linear and scientific enquiry in measuring faith, belief and experiential phenomena.

“ God may indeed exist, and prayer may indeed heal; however, it appears that, for important theological and scientific reasons, randomized controlled studies cannot be applied to the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing. In fact, no form of scientific enquiry presently available can suitably address the subject. Therefore, the continuance of such research may result in the conducted studies finding place among other seemingly impeccable studies with seemingly absurd claims (Renckens et al.[42] 2002) 1” .

Spirituality does not merely co-exist with our interactions and interventions. It is the background and the basis for who we are. Knowing, experiencing and gratitude, I feel would be much better measures ( if we may use such a term) of the boundless, than trying to box it in numericals and statistics.

References:

1)      Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.
What do I say?
What do I say?
What do I say? The video on talking with patients about spirituality was very informative. I have to admit that I have probably committed all of the ‘don’ts” as shown in the video. Addressing matters of spirituality feels uncomfortable at times and I often feel caught between wanting to allow people to speak freely and feeling useless if I have no great words of comfort to offer. But as the video pointed out, the important thing is the patient’s spiritual needs, not mine. 

The video also reminded me of two different spiritual encounters with clinicians shared with me by some friends. The first happened recently. My husband and I were visiting a friend in the hospital when they shared this story with us. Her husband was in a coma but every morning she and her children would have devotions with him. There was one nurse who would be in the room during this time and she was usually silent and respectful during their worship times. One morning the family’s devotion time was focused on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how they stood up to a King who was trying to force them to worship a god they didn’t believe in, even at the risk of death. 

The nurse listened silently to the story and each family member’s comments on the lesson of the story. To the family’s amazement, she shared her perspective on the story, which basically was that she was impressed that they trusted God even though they were very close to death. And without directly saying so, they felt that lesson was for them too, as my friend's husband was on life support and passed a few days later. My friend really appreciated her thoughts and that she expressed an interest in that personal aspect of their family life.  It seems that nurse was spiritually assessing the family during the previous worship times and calculated an appropriate time to talk about spirituality with them. I was impressed by this.

The next story happened some years ago, before the death of another friend’s father. He was in the hospital and his family had gathered to say goodbye to him. As they were doing so, among tears and feeling very sad, a nurse came in. She looked over the group and cheerily told them not to be sad because when he dies, he could still come to visit them. She then went on to share a story of how when her brother died, he started visiting her. My friend’s family was put off by her complete disregard for their pain and further, her beliefs on death and what happens when you die was at complete odds with what they believed. It’s important to be emotionally aware of your patients and to never impose your beliefs on them. You might feel you have words of healing but the timing or the context might not be appropriate. As clinicians/healthcare workers we should be observant to the cues our patients give us. 


What should I Say? - Kalai.
What should I Say? - Kalai.
The video "What should I Say?" gave me the answers I have been looking for. I asked this question myself several times to address my patient's deep soul searching questions. I was lost as even I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. After watching this video, I realized how many times I have turned off my patients ad negatively affected in their care. Definitely, it is very useful video for all healthcare providers from doctors to medical assistants and also personally to understand the deep within. It is very complex and needs a live, dynamic response with each question, clinicians have to be well trained in this dimension of the patient care. My favorite part of the video was, how to respond to a patient with "head to head and heart to heart" response. Now I understand how to interpret and respond appropriately to the questions.
Hope Assessment Reading: Chioma E
Hope Assessment Reading: Chioma E
It was interesting to read the statistic that while 94 percent of the population believes in God only 64 percent of physicians. 77 percent of the population feels somewhat close to God but only 43 percent of physicians do. Is it that the more achievements we acquire we believe more in our own abilities and less in Gods or does being around sick and suffering patients dampen those beliefs? Those are some questions that came to mind when I thought about the stark difference. One factor that can increase the success of spiritual discussions is for physicians 
to understand where their own beliefs stand. Doing so allows them to stay unbiased and patient centered. It is advised that physicians conduct a formal spiritual assessment on their selves to find out where they stand spiritually. I believe that all health care practitioners should conduct a personal spiritual assessment. This will encourage them to perform more assessments on patients and also become more understanding of how spirituality ties in with care.
Video link: What Should I Say?
Video link: What Should I Say?
(Mike)
This video was interesting to watch because it portrayed many of the mistakes we can make as healthcare providers when we are interacting with patients that are expressing their  honest concerns or fears to us. Errors from using humor inappropriately, minimizing the patients complaints or trying to change the topic are all things that may offend the patient and not help to find a meaningful solution or address the patient's concerns. The information presented in this video will definitely make me monitor myself during patient encounters so that I am providing the best care possible to my patients.

# data[].attributes.headline
Spirituality and medical practice (Ogwu Susan)

# data[].attributes.subject
Spirituality and medical practice (Ogwu Susan)

# data[].attributes.body
According to Dr Anandarajah, if spirituality is done responsibly, the practice of medicine may be the best arena for integrating science and spirituality. Although spiritual care may not be easily measurable, the physician’s ability to connect, show compassion and offer presence will certainly improve care and provide numerous positive benefits for the patient and the health industry as a whole.  As we create an environment of trust through listening, feeling and reflecting techniques, we earn the opportunity to perform spiritual assessment which may be formal using tools like HOPE assessment or informal through listening for clues that indicate that the patient is struggling with spiritual needs. Also the informal assessment can be supported with the seven guidelines given by Dr Elizabeth Johnson on what to say to patients going through spiritual distress.

The article on prayer research revealed different results on the effectiveness of prayer. However the conclusions drawn from the study agrees with what Dr Anandarajah which says science cannot fully understand some things in spirituality. we should keep an open mind to research and explore more of the positive advantages that spirituality brings to health.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello Chioma,

I also found interesting the importance of conducting first a spiritual self- assessment before assessing our patient's spirituality.  I find it important to examine our own beliefs to provide a more compassionate care in meeting the patient's spiritual needs. This especially important when our beliefs differ from the patients.
.

# data[].attributes.body
- Gail
We as health care professionals have an opportunity to assist patients in refining their beliefs and feelings if we but knew how to do that. This video gives examples of what to do and many examples of what not to do. It is by watching someone do it badly that we might identify ourselves and do it better next time. It seems so natural that we would say and do the right thing. The silencing responses were very disrespectful of the patient and his/her personhood. The head responses again, did not advance the patient's identification of feelings. The self disclosure examples are ones we hear everyday in the clinic. The self disclosure leaving the ball in the patient's court will keep the focus on the patient. I liked the self disclosure suggested response of "I hear that you are asking me about my beliefs, but before I do that, what do you think?" It acknowledges that the patient asked the caregiver her thoughts, but her own thoughts on it would more affect the outcome of her care. This response helps keep the focus on that, not on a possibly judgemental opinion from the caregiver. I particularly liked the journaling responses. The physician was able to let the patient know he heard her and her concerns, he gave her a valid tool to explore her feelings and promised to follow up with her at the next visit.  The pressure of the work needing to be done could easily have prevented the caregiver from doing his best work for the patient spiritually.

# data[].attributes.headline
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test - Anne

# data[].attributes.subject
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test - Anne

# data[].attributes.body
"Science is not designed to study the supernatural. I agree with this statement. I actually would reverse this. God designed science to be studied by us to learn more about Him and His creation. Science puts items into boxes and does not allow exploration of other concepts that could have occurred during the research project. When doing the research project, they only looked at one aspect of prayer. What about a person's mental health despite the complications. They could have had peace despite having complications post their surgery.  Or their pain could have been less despite having complications. The research project did not explore other areas that prayer could have helped the patients. The research did not show the whole picture that prayer could do.

# data[].attributes.headline
What Should I Say: Kalpana What Should I Say is a question that every medical staffs are challenged with in response to the patient’s spiritual need to face and overcome the medical conditions. This video was very informative with real life challenging situations and scenarios and gives an insight on how a medical staff should respond to the patient. It shows how the spiritual pain that is within the patient is brought to the surface while interacting with the medical staffs and how the medical staffs should respond to the patient in order to cater to the spiritual needs of a patient. The video has provided with the guidelines for the health care practioners to follow and how micro skills in dealing with the patients will help the medical staffs to focus on the spiritual feelings and not on the medical condition. It also states that the conversation goal should always be in the patient’s court and the medical staffs need to be an empathetic listener.The video mentions about the universal spiritual need like the healthy relationships, purpose and meaning of life, being true to self and how this spiritual need creates spiritual pain and should be dealt in a very positive, compassionate and kind way and not being negative or ignoring to meet the spiritual need of the patient.

# data[].attributes.subject
What Should I Say: Kalpana What Should I Say is a question that every medical staffs are challenged with in response to the patient’s spiritual need to face and overcome the medical conditions. This video was very informative with real life challenging situations and scenarios and gives an insight on how a medical staff should respond to the patient. It shows how the spiritual pain that is within the patient is brought to the surface while interacting with the medical staffs and how the medical staffs should respond to the patient in order to cater to the spiritual needs of a patient. The video has provided with the guidelines for the health care practioners to follow and how micro skills in dealing with the patients will help the medical staffs to focus on the spiritual feelings and not on the medical condition. It also states that the conversation goal should always be in the patient’s court and the medical staffs need to be an empathetic listener.The video mentions about the universal spiritual need like the healthy relationships, purpose and meaning of life, being true to self and how this spiritual need creates spiritual pain and should be dealt in a very positive, compassionate and kind way and not being negative or ignoring to meet the spiritual need of the patient.

# data[].attributes.headline
CNN Prayer Article and Koenig on Cardio- Hollis

# data[].attributes.subject
CNN Prayer Article and Koenig on Cardio- Hollis

# data[].attributes.body
“Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test” has a problem with construct validity. Whether or not cardiac patients have complications post operatively is not a direct function of whether or not someone else prayed for the patient OR whether or not the patient was aware that someone prayed for him/her. Complications have to do with risk factors. For example, is I choose to continually over eat and become obese, I am at risk for complications post operatively that my other study participants may or may not be subject to because of their lifestyle choices. God loves us all the same and prayer is miraculously powerful, but my choices have been “away” or “other than” God for my whole pre-op life. So prayer is not some magic bullet we take to stave off the consequences of our actions. A better measure may have been the diastolic blood pressure, as Koenig writes in Chapter 8.

Prayer is not demanding that God do for me what I will not do for myself (paraphrased from Thomas Merton- Catholic writer). Prayer is uniting my mind and heart to God. Koenig describes a positive correlation with religiousness and better cardiac markers. Maybe that’s the better question.

# data[].attributes.body
The video “what do I say” is a great resource and can help the healthcare givers to understand the concept of spiritual suffering and also the effective ways to deal with it. We often witness spiritual pain that the patient expresses by opening up in their own ways and in such scenarios, we struggle to give appropriate response. The demonstrations in the video are so realistic and I could relate to those situations and also learn how to engage patients for spiritual healing. The guidelines for developing micro skills for spiritual healing are also very helpful. As a healthcare professional we need to promote spiritual awareness and help the patient to experience the existence to the fullest.

“Empathy is walking a mile in somebody else's moccasins. Sympathy is being sorry their feet hurt.”

-Rebecca O'Donnell

# data[].attributes.body
The video was very interesting and informative. It focuses on listening to the patients was very intriguing. Also, the importance of meditation is an integral part of Hindu teachings. It is a proven fact that meditation has beneficial effects on stress, hypertension, Cardiovascular diseases and so on. What we seem to be forgetting is that Religion is about faith and not proof. this is close to my heart because when I came across people who were shocked that I was not a Christian asked me ridiculous questions like, “What is the proof that your religion exists?" or "Who was the founder of your religion" Or "How can you say your Religion is one of the oldest Religions" to name a few.

One important thing from the video was to create a spiritual awareness in patients.

Inner peace can often be found in places where we find comfort. Temples are often seen as an architectural marvel, but they are also spiritual centres built in a way that one can connect the spiritual core as one with the God, becoming one with them.

I think incorporating HOPE assessment could be a great way of including spiritual assessment for appropriate patients.

# data[].attributes.body
"Higher levels of spirituality and religiosity were associated with better immune function"

# data[].attributes.body
The video "what do I say" was a reminder of how we as caregivers, providers can have immense impact on our patients' spiritual pain. Being a witness to other people's spiritual pain can make us feel vulnerable whether in the role as a health care professional or through personal relations. Focus must be on the patient or the person who is feeling the spiritual pain and the present. To be fully empathetically available, we ourselves must be open, present, and balanced.

# data[].attributes.body
The video “what do I say” was very informative and tedious at the same time. It spoke about both positive and negative responses used by medical professionals when they were to interact with patients who are suffering spiritually.  It made me wonder if I said the right things to some of my previous patients and how I can improve my self further. One thing that struck me from the video is to listen very carefully to the patients and give a positive response. Although I am a firm believer of individual first, then patient. I have found that considering someone as first an individual, then a patient has actually help speed the recovery exponentially.

Meditation on the other hand, has shown to reduce blood pressure, reduce heart rate and improve the immune system. It also helps reduce stress and depression.

# data[].attributes.headline
Spirituality and Medical Practice - HOPE Assessment (Gutierrez) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Spirituality and Medical Practice - HOPE Assessment (Gutierrez) 

# data[].attributes.body
"Spirituality is an important, multidimensional aspect of the human experience that is difficult to fully understand or measure using the scientific method, yet convincing evidence in the medical literature supports its beneficial role in the practice of medicine."

# data[].attributes.body
"... we must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence.

Where does this leave us? God may indeed exist and prayer may indeed heal; however, it appears that, for important theological and scientific reasons, randomized controlled studies cannot be applied to the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing. In fact, no form of scientific enquiry presently available can suitably address the subject. Therefore, the continuance of such research may result in the conducted studies finding place among other seemingly impeccable studies with seemingly absurd claims (Renckens et al.[42] 2002). Whereas we have attempted to be scientifically and politically correct in our critique, other authors, such as Dawkins,[43] have been humorous, nay even scathing, in their criticism.

The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error (attr., Galileo[44])."

# data[].attributes.body
The video “What do I say - Talking to Patients About Spirituality” by Taylor (2017) shared both negative and positive responses used by clinician when interacting with patients. The video was helpful in that it shared common responses and reactions to life’s questions that patients may ask as they try to cope with their illness, fears, and concerns. Many great examples were provided to guide the dialogue between the medical staff and the patient. Such dialog may include questions such as “Why would a loving God allow this to happen to me?” Spiritual pain takes on many forms.

Seven techniques were presented that are helpful and healing. Spiritual healing incorporates: Intellectual awareness of spirituality by using restatement, openness, storytelling techniques; emotional awareness of spirituality by asking open questions about feelings and reflection of feeling; body awareness of spirituality using body listening and some religious practices. Human needs include meaning and purpose, the need to transcend self, healthy relationships, and being true to self.

Healing techniques incorporates letting the patient talk with little interruption while trying not over talking or interjecting personal perspectives. The use of open questions allows the patient to clarify and explore thought or feeling. Use open question sparingly. Reflective feeling uses word like “I am disappointed or” maybe you feel like a flower that has not blossom”. Self-disclosure – do not disclose to gratify your needs but access why they are asking, i.e. always return the ball in the patent’s court. Keep disclosure short. Do not side step the patient’s issues, use story listeners – help patient connect to the present and privately consider questions that will help the patient. Taylor also encouraged the use religious practices using ethical guidelines. Understand your own wishes and beliefs and participate in the patient’s religious practice only if fits with your beliefs. Respect the patient’s wishes as JACHO mandates asking the patient spiritual questions in support with their religious practices. Summarize techniques to help patient gain awareness of their spirituality. Finally, remember that compassion can compensate for talking techniques and remember that there is a power greater than self that does the healing.

Reference

Johnston-Taylor, E. (2007). Templeton Foundation Press 2007

# data[].attributes.headline
Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials (Smart-White

# data[].attributes.subject
Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials (Smart-White

# data[].attributes.body
“Prayer is a special form of meditation and may therefore convey all the health benefits that have been associated with meditation. Prayer may be supported by varying degrees of faith and may therefore be associated with all the benefits. Prayer may be associated with health improvements that result from spontaneous remission, regression to the mean, nonspecific psychosocial support, the Hawthorne effect and the Rosenthal effect. Prayer may result in benefits that are due to divine intervention”.

# data[].attributes.headline
Spirituality and Health Practice (Hazel)

# data[].attributes.subject
Spirituality and Health Practice (Hazel)

# data[].attributes.body
"If done responsibly, the practice of medicine may be the best arena for integrating science and spirituality." Our goal should be to promote spiritual awareness in patients and assist them to experience existence more fully.

# data[].attributes.body
It was a very good lesson learned personally by listening to Dr. Elizabeth Taylor, it was an eye opener for me. I am working in SNF facility and encountering the same scenario every day minimum one patient, and I am sure I did not give response to enhance spiritual awareness to assist in spiritual healing. I thought those resident needs medication and psycho social support, most of times I reached out to Physician and Nurse, they had replied to me saying that they will add some medications.

I knew that meditation and prayer have health benefits, now its time to really focus on educating my patients on these areas with empathetic fashion. Take home message for me after watching that video was raising spiritual awareness by giving positive response to patients after carefully listening to them with good heart, try not to turn down their spiritual pain questions, putting the ball in patients court itself and focus on patient not on the pathology or diagnosis.

As we are in health care, how many of us know to meditate, I would assume very minimal. First of all, we should realize and feel the benefit to integrate in our practice. For this we need proper training in these areas. In modern medicine they call it as alternative medicine, I think everyone in health care should start integrating this in every day’s practice. As an example, we all knew that exercise and hypertensive medication in combination will help in reducing higher blood pressure, similarly Meditation also helps in reducing blood pressure, but how many of Physician encouraging meditation for their patients. My point here is due to lack of self-realization and efficient training on these areas costing a lot in chronic illness.

After this spirituality class, for sure I will start going to temple as often as possible to teach my kid about religion and its core values, I hope that will bring inner peach in our life.

# data[].attributes.body
“In the broadest sense, prayer describes thoughts, words or deeds that address or petition a divine entity or force.” This week’s content brings to mind a Montreal landmark that I first visited as a child. St-Joseph’s Oratory was founded in 1904 by Brother Andre. Brother Andre welcomed thousands of sick and distressed people, listened to them, prayed for them and recommended that they pray to Saint Joseph. He was canonized in 2010 and also given the title of Patron Saint of Family Caregivers in Canada in 2016. What struck me most about my first visit many years ago were the many walls covered with hanging canes, crutches and wheelchairs- allegedly left behind by those cured. “Although the very consideration of such a possibility may appear scientifically bizarre, it cannot be denied that, across the planet, people pray for health and for relief of symptoms in times of sickness. Healing through prayer, healing through religious rituals, healing at places of pilgrimage and healing through related forms of intervention are well-established traditions in many religions.”

# data[].attributes.headline
Points from -Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on RCT's (Hina)

# data[].attributes.subject
Points from -Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on RCT's (Hina)

# data[].attributes.body
I found the following questions in the article very interesting which got me thinking:

a. If the faith or conviction of the persons who pray is important, does God value the beliefs of the petitioners more than the merits of the petitions?

b. If the personal characteristics and qualities of the persons who pray (or the persons who are being prayed for) are important, are some people more equal before God than other people? Religions portray God as being compassionate; what sort of compassion is displayed by the selective favoring of an experimental over a control group?

And to these questions I found a witty but a sensible answer which is given below.

Of course God does value our beliefs as well as our merits, and God is definitely compassionate to treat us with love and shower his mercy upon those who ask for forgiveness. We should believe that God will do justice to all of us and without any hesitation we should put all our faith and trust in his eternal power.

Above all, “we must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This also implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence.”

# data[].attributes.body
Meditation and breathing has shown to lower blood pressure, reduces heart rate, improves the immune system and many other factors. It helps reduce stress and improves the health of a person. It has shown to reduce the chances of a person suffering from depression. If one can practice meditation and breathing in every day life, they can improve their health a lot and help preven various diseases

# data[].attributes.headline
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test (Memory)

# data[].attributes.subject
Power of Prayer Flunks an Unusual Test (Memory)

# data[].attributes.body
Within the Christian tradition, God would be expected to be concerned with a person’s eternal salvation, he said, and  “Why would God change His plans for a particular person just because they’re in a research study?”

# data[].attributes.headline
Do we need a God figure to invoke the healing energy within us? – Pugazhenthi Narasimhan (Pugi)“From a scientific perspective, if prayer is indeed considered to work, thought should also be given to the possibility that it may not require a deity. It may, instead, invoke some hitherto unidentified mental energy that has healing power1”. A very strong message by the author emphasising the power of prayers in healing, with no bias on specific religion.  Reference:1.	Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.

# data[].attributes.subject
Do we need a God figure to invoke the healing energy within us? – Pugazhenthi Narasimhan (Pugi)“From a scientific perspective, if prayer is indeed considered to work, thought should also be given to the possibility that it may not require a deity. It may, instead, invoke some hitherto unidentified mental energy that has healing power1”. A very strong message by the author emphasising the power of prayers in healing, with no bias on specific religion.  Reference:1.	Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.

# data[].attributes.body
INFORMAL AND FORMAL SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT

Informal spiritual assessment may be accomplished at any time during the medical encounter but the formal one has to be specified and asking specific questions during the medical assessment or first visit to determine if the patient has spiritual background could affect the health care plan and  outcome or not.

The informal spiritual assessment involves the listening carefully to the patient’s stories first regarding to the illness or live as a general then interpreting the spiritual issues, but for the formal one, the patient has to answer some questions in different formats for conducting a formal spiritual assessment.

Sometimes, there are some clues will reflect the struggling of the patient with spiritual issues such as search for meaning, feelings of connection versus isolation, hope versus hopelessness, fear of the unknown, this a kind of informal spiritual assessment findings.

Spirituality and Medical Practice: Using the HOPE Questions as a Practical Tool for Spiritual Assessment, Gowri Anandarajah, 2001.

I prefer the informal spiritual assessment first to figure out if my patient is willing to cooperate and interesting in conducting this kind of the assessment regarding to his/her religion of his/her spirituality , then if the patient feels comfortable and starts to open up to me, then the next step is the formal assessment to be easy for me as a medical provider and for him to feel comfort toward these kind of the questions related to the inner background of religions or spirituality.

# data[].attributes.body
(Brian Verville)
I found the video although a little dry to really be informative and giving real life issues and how I have seen medical professionals respond to patients. It also made me reflect on how I have responded to patients that I encounter to the needs although I may not have noticed in the past. It really made me reflect and realize that sometimes we need to listen really listen to what our patients are saying and to the meaning behind what they are expressing. expressing is the key to the communication with out patients who are experiencing a difficult time.. It gave perspective as to if our patients are speaking from the head or the heart and a good statigie to respond appropriately. What I really got from the video was that we need to be more humanistic in our responses and really listen to what is being expressed. One example as simple as it is when the patient expressed she felt like she was hit by a mack truck was not to play it off what to delve a bit deeper and get to the root. a good response was to get the patient to further describe her feeling and to journal on this feeling and what it would take to get that feeling relieved. This would allow the patient to understand the pressure, and open further communication about her feelings to allow that conversation to open a dialogue
reagarding her feelings and have a plan to ease the pressure.. I gave good cues for the clinician to recognize weather they were
speaking from the hear or the head and a good tool on how to appropriately respond. My feeling was that it reminds the clinician no matter what field they are in to take a humanistic response and to communicate and converse with our patients even if it is outside of the scientific realhm. We need to take the time to account for the what they are feeling and open ourselves up and be present while they are expressing there feelings and concerns. From the article preyer and healing article I found interest in the final statements The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error (Galileo) in that we can not perform a randomized controlled studies on the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing... this speaks to the studies done on patients going though heart surgery that some knew they were prayed for and other new they may be prayed. It does not address the need for prayer and the fact that they were prayed for from a distance. It is too literal. Prayer and faith are very personal and intimate and need to have the person being prayed for involved. We can not put science in front of Gods way. The article spoke to the fact science will not dictate Gods will and his plan for us all. This article really brings to light the need to understand that God has a plan for us all. These studies try to look beyond Gods plan for us and see if science can overcome his plan which it can not. I really feel that yes addressing the whole person and taking time to listen and respond in an appropriate way understanding and accounting for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of our patient is really practicing whole health. I also understand and feel that this article defines that just because we pray we may not be able to heal the physical illness but do believe we can have a larger impact in healing the spiritual, emotional, and mental components involved in our patients illness..

# data[].attributes.headline
Prayer and Healing: the foolishness of man - Justin

# data[].attributes.subject
Prayer and Healing: the foolishness of man - Justin

# data[].attributes.body
While the outcomes of prayer intervention shared in the article “Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials” were not significant, I felt that it did a great job at presenting the “pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic” descriptors of prayer that might be considered ‘independent or confounding variables” in any study (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).  The article stated that we “must keep in mind that religion is based on faith and not on proof. This implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate in scientific studies that seek to test his existence” (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).

While I would not agree that God is indifferent to humanity, I would agree that he transcends human limitations and is not subject to human processes.  I feel the study would be restricted if prayer was considered a process where humans dictated to God their desires with the full expectation that God would respond in each situation according to the will of man.

“The aim of science is not to open a door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error”. - Attributed to Galileo (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009).

Reference:

Andrade, C., & Radhakrishnan, R. (2009, Oct-Dec). Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4), 247-253.

# data[].attributes.body
The following quote amply describes the futility in bringing mathematical, linear and scientific enquiry in measuring faith, belief and experiential phenomena.

“ God may indeed exist, and prayer may indeed heal; however, it appears that, for important theological and scientific reasons, randomized controlled studies cannot be applied to the study of the efficacy of prayer in healing. In fact, no form of scientific enquiry presently available can suitably address the subject. Therefore, the continuance of such research may result in the conducted studies finding place among other seemingly impeccable studies with seemingly absurd claims (Renckens et al.[42] 2002) ¹” .

Spirituality does not merely co-exist with our interactions and interventions. It is the background and the basis for who we are. Knowing, experiencing and gratitude, I feel would be much better measures ( if we may use such a term) of the boundless, than trying to box it in numericals and statistics.

References:

1)      Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. Prayer and healing: A medical and scientific perspective on randomized controlled trials. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;51(4):247-253. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58288.

# data[].attributes.body
What do I say? The video on talking with patients about spirituality was very informative. I have to admit that I have probably committed all of the ‘don’ts” as shown in the video. Addressing matters of spirituality feels uncomfortable at times and I often feel caught between wanting to allow people to speak freely and feeling useless if I have no great words of comfort to offer. But as the video pointed out, the important thing is the patient’s spiritual needs, not mine.

The video also reminded me of two different spiritual encounters with clinicians shared with me by some friends. The first happened recently. My husband and I were visiting a friend in the hospital when they shared this story with us. Her husband was in a coma but every morning she and her children would have devotions with him. There was one nurse who would be in the room during this time and she was usually silent and respectful during their worship times. One morning the family’s devotion time was focused on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how they stood up to a King who was trying to force them to worship a god they didn’t believe in, even at the risk of death.

The nurse listened silently to the story and each family member’s comments on the lesson of the story. To the family’s amazement, she shared her perspective on the story, which basically was that she was impressed that they trusted God even though they were very close to death. And without directly saying so, they felt that lesson was for them too, as my friend's husband was on life support and passed a few days later. My friend really appreciated her thoughts and that she expressed an interest in that personal aspect of their family life.  It seems that nurse was spiritually assessing the family during the previous worship times and calculated an appropriate time to talk about spirituality with them. I was impressed by this.

The next story happened some years ago, before the death of another friend’s father. He was in the hospital and his family had gathered to say goodbye to him. As they were doing so, among tears and feeling very sad, a nurse came in. She looked over the group and cheerily told them not to be sad because when he dies, he could still come to visit them. She then went on to share a story of how when her brother died, he started visiting her. My friend’s family was put off by her complete disregard for their pain and further, her beliefs on death and what happens when you die was at complete odds with what they believed. It’s important to be emotionally aware of your patients and to never impose your beliefs on them. You might feel you have words of healing but the timing or the context might not be appropriate. As clinicians/healthcare workers we should be observant to the cues our patients give us.

# data[].attributes.body
The video "What should I Say?" gave me the answers I have been looking for. I asked this question myself several times to address my patient's deep soul searching questions. I was lost as even I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. After watching this video, I realized how many times I have turned off my patients ad negatively affected in their care. Definitely, it is very useful video for all healthcare providers from doctors to medical assistants and also personally to understand the deep within. It is very complex and needs a live, dynamic response with each question, clinicians have to be well trained in this dimension of the patient care. My favorite part of the video was, how to respond to a patient with "head to head and heart to heart" response. Now I understand how to interpret and respond appropriately to the questions.

# data[].attributes.body
It was interesting to read the statistic that while 94 percent of the population believes in God only 64 percent of physicians. 77 percent of the population feels somewhat close to God but only 43 percent of physicians do. Is it that the more achievements we acquire we believe more in our own abilities and less in Gods or does being around sick and suffering patients dampen those beliefs? Those are some questions that came to mind when I thought about the stark difference. One factor that can increase the success of spiritual discussions is for physicians
to understand where their own beliefs stand. Doing so allows them to stay unbiased and patient centered. It is advised that physicians conduct a formal spiritual assessment on their selves to find out where they stand spiritually. I believe that all health care practitioners should conduct a personal spiritual assessment. This will encourage them to perform more assessments on patients and also become more understanding of how spirituality ties in with care.

# data[].attributes.body
(Mike)
This video was interesting to watch because it portrayed many of the mistakes we can make as healthcare providers when we are interacting with patients that are expressing their  honest concerns or fears to us. Errors from using humor inappropriately, minimizing the patients complaints or trying to change the topic are all things that may offend the patient and not help to find a meaningful solution or address the patient's concerns. The information presented in this video will definitely make me monitor myself during patient encounters so that I am providing the best care possible to my patients.