Prayer and Spirituality in Healthcare

Nurses traditionally are comfortable discussing faith and prayer with patients, as well as how these practices relate to well-being and healing. Spirituality has always been a part of nursing assessment and intervention and Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, wove spirituality into its theory and practice.

However, currently less than 10% of physicians regularly address spiritual issues with patients (Koenig, H. 2001), even though "surveys of primary care patients and the general population indicate that the majority of patients would like their physicians to address religious or spiritual issues in the context of a medical visit" (Koenig, H. 2004).

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