Christensen April R, Cook Tara E, Arnold Robert M
a second-year palliative care fellow and clinical instructor of medicine in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
a Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law, and the director of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Institute for Doctor-Patient Communication and the medical director of the UPMC Palliative and Supportive Institute.
AMA J Ethics. 2018 Jul 1;20(7):E621-629. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2018.621.
Over the past 20 years, physicians have shifted from viewing a patient's request for prayer as a violation of professional boundaries to a question deserving nuanced understanding of the patient's needs and the clinician's boundaries. In this case, Mrs. C's request for prayer can reflect religious distress, anxiety about her clinical circumstances, or a desire to better connect with her physician. These different needs suggest that it is important to understand the request before responding. To do this well requires that Dr. Q not be emotionally overwhelmed by the request and that she has skill in discerning potential reasons for the request.
在过去20年里，医生们已从将患者的祈祷请求视为违反专业界限，转变为将其视为一个值得对患者需求和临床医生界限进行细致入微理解的问题。在这种情况下，C夫人的祈祷请求可能反映出宗教困扰、对自身临床状况的焦虑，或者是想要更好地与她的医生建立联系。这些不同的需求表明，在回应之前了解该请求很重要。要做好这一点，要求Q医生不因该请求而情绪过度波动，并且她要有能力辨别该请求的潜在原因。
