A study by David Neely, Eunice Minford investigated the current status of teaching on spirituality in medicine in UK medical schools and to establish if and how medical schools are preparing future doctors to identify patients’ spiritual needs.
It found that “59%” of those who replied provided some form of teaching on spirituality…however, they cautioned that was based on extrapolation of figures that “at least 31% and a maximum of 78%” of UK medical schools currently provide some form of teaching on spirituality.
Of those, half had made it compulsory.
The study published in 2007 concluded: “It would be beneficial to introduce a standardised curriculum on spirituality across all UK medical schools.”