When patients ask to pray: Navigating spirituality in medicine
Requests for prayer at the bedside are more common than many clinicians admit. Yet these moments often unfold quietly, undocumented, unexamined, and rarely addressed in training. Whether a clinician identifies as religious, spiritual, secular, or uncertain, such requests can stir discomfort. Still, patients continue to ask.
Sometimes it is direct: “Doctor, will you pray with me before surgery?”
Other times it is woven into hope: “I am praying God gives your steady …
When patients ask to pray: Navigating spirituality in medicine
