Spirituality in medical education in Australian universities: A national survey of content and Deans, teachers, students, and practitioners attitudes

There has never been a systematic review of spirituality teaching in medicine in Australia or the attitudes and uptake of spirituality in practice by students and practitioners as a result of their education. In the latest international literature, Lucchetti et al (2012) indicated that there are very few publications outside the USA focussing on this area, and there is a great need for studies to investigate the teaching of spirituality in medical education, specifically in Australia. This project provides a much needed opportunity to investigate the curriculum content of spirituality in medicine and attitudes of Deans and teachers in all 18 Australian Universities offering medical programs. Results will be compared with those found globally, primarily with studies in North America and the United Kingdom. The project includes designing a questionnaire to survey Deans and staff in all medical universities across Australia, conducting the research, analysing the results, and preparing and submitting articles for professional journals and media outlets. Quality data sets of the results from teachers, students and practitioners will be produced along with four research articles in high quality peer-reviewed academic journals, presentations at a national and USA medical education conference, and current opinion pieces for medical educator publication and websites. It is envisaged that the enduring impact will be a national framework for the teaching of spirituality in medicine, greater understanding and a change in teaching strategies resulting in improved training of future doctors who are better prepared, more comfortable and more effective at discussing spirituality with patients. The research team’s capacity for success is underpinned by an ethical responsibility to take our part in contributing to the advancement of health provision through educating thoughtful, compassionate, understanding, and open-minded doctors of the future.