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Reply With QuoteInteresting article. I wonder which patients do better, atheist or religious ones?
Atheist doctors treat the poor more than religious ones
Atheist doctors more likely to care for the poor than religious ones
Submitted by Vidura Panditaratne on Tue, 2007-07-31 12:32.
Atheist doctors more likely to care for the poor than religious ones | Press Esc
Atheist doctors are likely to practice medicine among the underprivileged than religious physicians, even though most religions call on the faithful to serve the poor, according to the results of large cross-sectional survey of US medical practitioners published in Annals of Family Medicine.
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Yale New Haven Hospital report that 31 percent of physicians who were more religious—as measured by "intrinsic religiosity" as well as frequency of attendance at religious services—practiced among the underserved, compared to 35 percent of physicians who described their religion as atheist, agnostic or none.
"This came as both a surprise and a disappointment," study author Farr Curlin, MD, said. "The Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures all urge physicians to care for the poor, and the great majority of religious physicians describe their practice of medicine as a calling. Yet we found that religious physicians were not more likely to report practice among the underserved than their secular colleagues."
Physicians avoid spending the bulk of their time caring for the poor as it could mean forgoing professional prestige, free time and academic opportunities.
They found that even though they received reduced salaries, decreased support staff and faced constant bureaucratic interference, physicians who care for the underprivileged receive intangible rewards in exchange, such as a sense that they make a difference in society, have a positive impact on the lives of large groups of patients and have aligned their jobs with their altruistic aspirations.
Curlin and colleagues surveyed 1,820 practicing physicians from all specialties of whom 1,144 (63%) responded.
The survey contained questions about what the researchers called intrinsic religiosity—the extent to which individuals embrace their religion as the "master motive that guides and gives meaning to their life."
Researchers asked physicians if they agreed or disagreed with two statements: "I try hard to carry my religious beliefs over into all my other dealings in life," and "My whole approach to life is based on my religion." They were also asked how often they attended religious services.
The survey also included questions about whether the physicians considered medicine a calling, whether their religious beliefs influence their practice of medicine, and whether the family in which they were raised emphasized helping those with few resources.
Physicians who strongly agreed that their religious beliefs influence their practice of medicine were more likely to report practice among the under-served, but, physicians who were more religious in general, as measured by their intrinsic religiosity or their frequency of attending religious services, were not more likely to practice among the under-served.
Even the more religious physicians who reported that their families emphasized service to the poor and that, for them, the practice of medicine was a calling, were no more likely to practice among the poor.
Curlin and colleagues also noted that those who identified themselves as very spiritual, whether or not they were religious, were roughly twice as likely to care for the under-served as those who described their spirituality as low.
"Part of this divergence between religion and spirituality can be traced to a rift between Christian denominations in the late-19th and early-20th centuries," explained Curlin, who describes himself as an orthodox Christian in the Protestant tradition.
According to the author, about a hundred years ago many of the mainline and liberal Protestant churches began "to emphasize efforts to right social injustices, while the more conservative churches tended to stress doctrinal orthodoxy. Research indicates that those who consider themselves spiritual but not so religious are more likely to be formed in the more liberal denominations."
Policy makers and medical educators hoping to increase the physician supply for underserved populations should take these results into account cautiously, the authors recommended.
"No one knows how to select medical students in a way that would actually increase the number of physicians eager to serve the underserved," Curlin said, "but our findings suggest that admissions officials should ignore both the general religiousness of candidates and their professed sense of calling to medicine."
Interesting article. I wonder which patients do better, atheist or religious ones?
Hmmm... interesting. I wonder if it has anything to do with the divide between religion and science. Or if more non-religious people become doctors as opposed to those who are religious.
Exactly. If the religious ones were rich then they can get treatment from somewhere else.Originally Posted by sweet and sexy
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky...
Wasn't there a study that came out in the last couple of years that found patients who believed they were being prayed for had better results than those who did not believe they were being prayed for? I think I remember reading that because it wasn't related to "the power of prayer" but the power of the mind over the body.
I've read about the prayer study and I think that the patients who were told they were prayed for actually did worse than the ones who weren't told. But I don't have time to look into it right now.
Atheist is like a cuss word.
I was at church last night. And this sermon mentioned the word. Why does it conjure up the idea that they don't believe in anything at all? Basically, this sermon comes down to not having a world to look forward to. Such BS
My husband is an atheist. He got into an interesting discussion once with a particularly religious guy who tried to assert that since my husband didn't believe in god, he must not have any sense of morals whatsoever. It's like atheist instantly equals bad person. Total bullcrap.
When your daughter plays "House," she pretends to be an annoying doctor with a pill-addiction and a limp.
^It is bull. Actually, most of my atheist friends are far more moral than my religious ones. One of them said, "Well, this is the only life we have, and I don't believe in a redeemer or God, so this is my only shot to do good." It was really amazing.
^^I echo your experiences. People who tell you how good they are, rarely are. That's been my experience with most "religious" people. I've posted this before but I really believe it: Christian is a verb, not a noun.
The sermon wasn't like rubbing it all in, like they usually do, though...
They were going over their past, present, and future. It came across as vulnerable, as far as how long it has existed.
Anyhow, the word atheist came in once as if they were examining it.
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