Seniors Among Hospital Patients Most Likely to Want Religious Dialogue
Patients who talk about faith with staff most likely to be satisfied with care
July 14, 2011 Senior citizens were among hospital patients most interested in having a conversation about religion and
spirituality with the healthcare team. Among patients of all ages, those who had such conversations were the most satisfied with their overall
care.
Half of the patients who wanted a discussion did not have one (20 percent of patients overall) and one in four who did
not want a conversation about spiritual issues had one anyway.
The study by Joshua Williams, University of Chicago, and his colleagues also found that older patients, as well as, African
Americans, women, those who were less educated and those with severe pain were more likely to have discussed their religious and spiritual
concerns with someone in the hospital.
Religious and spiritual concerns are particularly prominent during times of illness, suffering and death. Some medical
leaders and policy-makers in the US have urged healthcare systems and providers to give due attention to patients' spiritual concerns.
There is disagreement, however, about which members of the healthcare team should ask about and address these concerns.
According to hospitalized patients in this study, whom they speak to makes no difference - the important factor appears to be that they have
these discussions.
Williams and team analyzed data collected between January 2006 and June 2009 on 3,141 patients enrolled in the University
of Chicago Hospitalist Study.
In particular, the authors were interested in whether or not patients wanted to have their religious or spiritual
concerns addressed in the hospital, whether or not anyone talked to them about religious and spiritual issues, and which member of the
healthcare team spoke with them about these issues. They also looked at patient-satisfaction ratings for overall hospital care.
They found that 41 percent of patients wanted to discuss religious or spiritual concerns with someone while in the
hospital, and 32 percent of all patients said some discussion did occur.
Among those who had taken part in discussions, 61 percent spoke with a chaplain, 12 percent with a member of their own
religious community, 8 percent with a physician, and 12 percent with someone else.
It did not appear to matter if patients said they wanted such a conversation, said the study's senior author, Farr
Curlin, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
Even patients who did not want the conversation had higher rates on all four of the study's patient-satisfaction
measures."
Those measures were:
● satisfaction with the doctors' care,
● always had confidence and trust in doctors,
● excellent teamwork among doctors and nurses, and
● overall care was excellent.
The authors conclude: "Many more inpatients desire conversations about religious and spiritual concerns than actually
experience such conversations. Our findings suggest that physicians, nurses, healthcare organizations, and pastoral care departments may
address an unmet need and simultaneously improve patient satisfaction by talking to patients about religious and spiritual concerns in the
inpatient setting."
An article on the research appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.
References
Williams JA et al (2011). Attention to inpatients religious and spiritual concerns: predictors and association with
patient satisfaction Journal of General Internal Medicine. DOI 10.1007/s11606-011-1781-y
The Journal of General Internal Medicine is the official journal of the Society of General Internal Medicine.
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July 14, 2011 Senior citizens were among hospital patients most interested in having a conversation about religion and
spirituality with the healthcare team. Among patients of all ages, those who had such conversations were the most satisfied with their overall
care. 