Background: It has been shown that patients would like to discuss their spiritual beliefs with their physicians and that they have spiritual needs which are often under addressed by health care professionals. Whereas, addressing those needs in clinical practice is a component of the holistic care that every patient deserves, the attitude of physicians towards addressing them has not been ascertained in our environment.
Objectives: To explore physicians' attitude and self-reported behavior towards patients’ spirituality in clinical practice at a tertiary health facility in Southern Nigeria.
Methods: In this cross-sectional survey carried out between August and November 2020, a semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire was completed by the participating physicians which were of various ranks and working in various departments of the hospital. Their attitude towards their patients’ spirituality in clinical practice and self-reported behavior were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0.
Results: A total of 200 physicians participated in the study, 90% of them were residents of various cadres, two-third (n=122; 61%) had less than 10 years work experience. Majority of respondents (n=163; 81.5%) considered it appropriate to make inquiries about their patients’ spirituality and less than half of them (n=98; 49%) were aware that there is a religious leader in the hospital who offers pastoral care. Half of the respondents (n=104; 52%) reported they rarely take spirituality history of patients, 18 (9%) often pray with the patient while 100 (50%) rarely refer patients for pastoral care. Insufficient time was the most frequent barrier to discussing spiritual issues with patients. However, only 5 (2.5%) respondents were able to name 3 common tools a health worker can use to assess patients’ spiritual needs.
Conclusion: Physicians enquiry into patients’ spirituality was inconsistent, and there were gaps between their attitudes to discussing these issues with their patients and its practice. Incorporating spiritual care courses into physicians’ training is recommended to overcome the barriers to both patient and physician spiritual inquiry.
Background: Many rewarding life activities are associated with some stress, and academic activities are no exception. This study aimed to evaluate the sources of stress, stress-coping strategies adopted, hours of personal
Background:The history of accreditation is traceable to the efforts of a few educational institutions in seeking standards for differentiating between colleges and secondary schools. This study aims to evaluate the level of awareness and expectations of medical students on accreditation visits in a private medical university in the last 4 years -from 2018 to 2022.
Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among total population of students at a private medical university, using a pre-designed proforma. Data was analysed using the statistical software for social sciences 20.0.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.