Frequency, setting and influential factors associated with pharmacy student-patient encounters involving spirituality...

To identify (1) how often and in what settings pharmacy students include spirituality and religion and (2) what factors may influence how often students incorporate spirituality in patient care plans.

Fourth-year pharmacy students completed a questionnaire defining the frequency and setting of patient care activities that incorporated spiritual beliefs during advanced pharmacy practice experiences. Demographics, prior spirituality and health coursework, and self-identified measures of religiosity and spirituality were collected. Data analysis utilized descriptive statistics with nonparametric exploratory analysis.

Sixty-three students completed the survey (31.7% response rate). While 11% of students asked patients about spiritual needs, 25.4% reported inclusion of spiritual factors in therapeutic plan creation. The general medicine rotation was the most common setting identified. Student frequency of religious service attendance, self-identified religiosity, and self-reported spirituality were associated with perceived importance of asking patients about spiritual needs (P < .05 for all). This did not impact whether students asked about or incorporated these topics (P > .05 for all). Students who did ask about or incorporate spiritual and religious issues had significantly greater comfort in discussing these and referring patients to a chaplain (P < .05 for all).

Students are considering patients' spiritual needs in patient care activities. Greater student spiritual and religious practices positively influenced attitudes toward importance of asking about patient needs but did not influence student-reported behavior in patient care. Results highlight the need for instructors to consider how students' comfort levels and patient care setting influence addressing spiritual concerns.