Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026
Pioneering Patient-Specific Approaches for Precision Surgery Using Imaging and Virtual Reality
Published on: April 5, 2024
Spirituality within the patient-surgeon relationship
Dan Taylor1, Madhuri S Mulekar, Arnold Luterman
1Department of General Surgery, College of Medicine and Medical Center, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA.
Objective:
To assess the attitudes of general and orthopaedic surgical outpatients regarding inquiry into their religious beliefs, spiritual practices, and personal faith.
Design:
Prospective, voluntary, self-administered, and anonymously-completed questionnaire, regarding religious beliefs, spiritual practices, and personal faith, March-August, 2009.
Setting:
General and orthopaedic surgical outpatient settings, Health Services Foundation, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, a tertiary care academic medical center in Mobile, Alabama.
Participants:
All patients referred for evaluation and management of general and orthopaedic surgical conditions, pre- and postoperatively, were approached.
Methodology:
The questionnaire solicited data regarding patient: (1) demographics; (2) religious beliefs, spiritual practices, and personal faith; and (3) opinions regarding inquiry into those subjects by their surgeon. The latter opinions were stratified on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Statistical analysis was conducted using software JMP(®) 8 Statistical Discovery Software (S.A.S. Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina) and a 5% probability level was used to determine significance of results.
Results:
Eighty-three percent (83%) of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that surgeons should be aware of their patients' religiosity and spirituality; 63% concurred that surgeons should take a spiritual history; and 64% indicated that their trust in their surgeon would increase if they did so. Nevertheless, 17%, 37%, and 36% disagreed or strongly disagreed with those perspectives, respectively.
Conclusions:
By inference to the best explanation of the results, we would argue that religiosity and spirituality are inherent perspectives of patient-surgeon relationships. Consequently, those perspectives are germane to the therapeutic milieu. Therefore, discerning each patient's perspective in those regards is warranted in the context of an integrative and holistic patient-surgeon relationship, the intent of which is to restore a patient to health and well-being.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
01:30Psychosurgery
Historical Development of Psychosurgery
In the 1930s, Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz introduced a surgical procedure designed...
01:23Ethical Standards II
Nurses are entrusted with upholding various ethical principles and standards. Nurses forge solid therapeutic relationships using trust, empathy, autonomy, confidentiality, and professional competence.
Confidentiality is crucial, embodying respect for individual privacy and...
01:25Ethical Standards I
The Code of Ethics provisions outline the nurse's duty to the patient, the healthcare team, the profession, and society. The Code's fundamental principles include advocacy,...
01:27Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...
01:29Professional Values
The values that are the foundation of the nursing profession are altruism, autonomy, human dignity, and social justice.
First, altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well-being of others without personal...