Exploring the integration of Islamic practice in a tertiary shariah-compliant hospital: A qualitative study

Shariah-compliant and ibadah-friendly hospitals have been established in the Malaysian healthcare system for nearly two decades to support the religious needs of Muslim patients. In parallel, the Islamic input in the medical program curriculum has been designed to train healthcare professionals, particularly doctors, to integrate Islamic principles into their medical expertise, as they are expected to incorporate Islamic values into their daily practice. However, the practice of doctors with this Islamic integrated medical curriculum has not been thoroughly investigated. Thus, to what extent they embodied the Islamic values within their practice and the challenges they faced in realising this is not known. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the experiences of doctors and patients related to the integration of Islamic principles within Shariahcompliant hospital services.

A single-site qualitative case study design was employed, recruiting 20 doctors and 18 adult patients receiving treatment in the Orthopaedic wards and clinic of a Shariah-compliant teaching hospital. In addition, 19 relevant documents have been sampled and included. The study was conducted using multiple data collection methods including individual in-depth interviews, nonparticipant observations and document analysis between June 2023 and February 2024. The data analysis was done according to framework technique facilitated by NVivo software version 5.

Four key themes emerged: (1) fulfilling religious and spiritual needs through clinical interactions and services; (2) practising therapeutic communication guided by Islamic values such as compassion, honesty, and patience; (3) upholding privacy, dignity, and autonomy in patient care; and (4) the importance of an effective training program and a sustainable working environment. Doctors expressed varying levels of confidence and consistency in applying Islamic principles, often influenced by personal understanding, workload, and institutional support. Patients generally appreciated the effort to integrate religious values but noted inconsistencies in delivery and expectations.

This study highlights both the perceptions and actual practices of doctors in integrating Islamic principles into their clinical roles, as well as how patients perceive and respond to such efforts. While both groups value the integration of Islamic values, variations in interpretation and practice reveal gaps between the intended Shariahcompliant model and its implementation on the ground.