Faith diversity is on a rise. As Health care providers we should accommodate the patient in all healthy desires especially if they’re religious. Religions such as Buddhism, Hindu, and Jehovah's Witnesses are all unique when it comes to the aspect of health and healing and require health care providers to be proactive in accommodating them in their healing approach. While a person is in the hospital it is important to treat them with a holistic approach, taking into consideration their religious beliefs and practices. How they are treated in a hospital should be taken very seriously by the medical staff. The spiritual aspect to healing is as important, if not more important, than the technology of modern medicine. Many religions think of healing as having a direct link between themselves and their spiritual being. Health is very important in religion because it means that the member is allowed to live and prosper on earth. When someone gets sick and dies it has spiritual implications. All religions rely on the ambition and desire to practice their faith. Although most religions have this in common, they are different in so many ways. Treatment and how they incorporate modern techniques are not the same. Spiritual care in the medical setting has stipulations and barriers. It’s important in the medical setting for each clinician to understand where the patient’s spiritual boundaries are to insure none of those are crossed. The modern healthcare setting is busy and fast pasted and often times the spiritual side falls into the background to allow for other practices. This is not intentional; there is an increasing need for task oriented nursing. Often, this causes the spiritual component to be unincorporated. The spiritual approach is mainly included upon request when the patient makes the nurse aware. If a clinician is unfamiliar with the patient religion or if the clinician doesn’t agree with the request of the patient religion, it can become a difficult task to incorporate with the holistic approach. These both are reasons why religion in healthcare is difficult to include and can be neglected. Regardless it is important to provide spiritual care for all patients, practice human rights and enable others to practice their religions to help promote healing. Buddhism is a unique region that takes careful consideration to accommodate in the clinical setting. In a hospital meals are critical. When a patient is in a hospital overnight for days, what they eat becomes a curtail part of the outlook on their prognosis. As a clinician you want to provide the patient with the best possible meal so the patient has the nutrients necessary to make a full recovery. For a Buddhist diet is an important part of their spiritual views. Buddhists are strict vegetarians, not consuming “any meat or animal by-products” (Ehman, 2012). This means the Nurse must insure that the patient receives meals that are prepared away from any type of animal products. This may seem like a daunting task and in some hospitals, close to impossible. In addition to diet, Buddhist is very mindful religiously and focuses on meditation and spiritual chants. Although the chants are out loud, it can be done quietly without disturbing other patients. Most of the time however, a Buddhist prefers their environment to reflect “peace and quiet for the purpose of meditation” (Ehman, 2012). The purpose of meditation in the Buddhist religion is to promote mindful awareness and to relieve suffering. A Buddhist always wants to be fully aware of their surroundings, this is vital to their religious beliefs. For this reason all clinicians should be mindful of what medications they are prescribing to insure that it will not alter thinking and/or awareness. This requires a different approach when it comes to pain medications. Most pain medications alter awareness so Buddhist may use just a moderate amount that wouldn’t alter awareness. When a Buddhist is approaching death the family
