HealthDay reports that hospitalized patients who are “able to talk about their religious and spiritual concerns are more satisfied with their care,” according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Researchers gathered information on the “spiritual concerns of more than 3,000 patients hospitalized” over three years, and then asked the patients to “rate their sense of satisfaction with their overall hospital care.”
They found that “41 percent of patients had religious or spiritual concerns they wanted to talk about while in the hospital,” and such discussions took place “among 32 percent of all patients.”
Half of the patients who “wanted a discussion, however, did not get to have one (20 percent of patients, overall).” Notably, those that did have a religious discussion “reported being more satisfied with their overall level of care,” the study authors noted.
Here are some of my other blogs on spirituality in medicine:

• Increased spiritual support may be linked to higher quality of life in cancer patients
• If religious faith is important to you, how should you take a spiritual history of your doctor?
• Anger at God Common During Times of Crisis
• Interview: Dr. Walt Says Opportunities Abound To Bring Faith Into Medicine