Restoration and re-creation: spirituality in the lives of healthcare professionals

Purpose of review The clinician-patient relationship is essential to the practice of person-centered care. This healing relationship can present challenges to clinicians when working with patients who suffer. Clinicians today are looking for ways to deal with the stress of care-giving and to find greater meaning in their professional lives. Recent findings Professional guidelines recognize that medicine, nursing and other healthcare professions are vocations, not jobs. Reports indicate that physicians and other clinicians feel the current healthcare environment is too business-like yet, patient relationships continue to be the primary source of satisfaction for many clinicians. The relationships can be rewarding but also stressful. Spirituality is proposed as a way for clinicians to reconnect with their professional roots to serve those who suffer. Resources are suggested that might enable clinicians to find greater meaning in their profession. Summary Professional development should address spiritual development especially as it relates to the healthcare professional's sense of calling to their profession, the basis of relationship-centered care, and the provision of compassionate care.