Do physicians need spiritual CME?

Tracy Balboni, a radiation oncologist, conducted a survey of terminally ill cancer patients about their spiritual needs:

...Balboni found that 88% of terminal cancer patients said religion was at least somewhat important to them. And about half had been visited by clergy. Yet Balboni's research also suggests that hospitals, doctors and even religious communities fail to support the spiritual needs of their cancer patients at the end of life.

In her survey of 230 people with less than a year to live, nearly half say they received little to no support for their spiritual needs from religious communities. More than 70% say their spiritual needs weren't met by hospital chaplains or others in the health care system, says the study, published Saturday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Click here to read the USA Today article.