Death Be Not Proud: A Commentary on Muslim Acceptance of Death in the Intensive Care Unit.

Technologies used in medicine have meant that treatments can keep people biologically alive but often fail to provide meaningful recovery and quality of life. Many of those from the Islamic faith have relied on these technologies for recovery on religious grounds, even when it may be against clinical advice. This commentary seeks to challenge this notion among many Muslims and suggests there is a psycho-spiritual motivation within the Islamic tradition in not pursuing intensive care treatment that is deemed futile by clinicians. A wish to embrace death in these situations should be expressed to loved ones, and the dying person's loved ones should be encouraged to embrace death, in order to minimise harm from disagreements between clinical staff and family.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices with regard to prophetic medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: The current study explores the impact of Prophetic medicine's knowledge, attitudes, and practices on the Saudi population during the COVID-19 pandemic. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study used a web-based cross-sectional design. A self-selected nonprobability sampling technique was utilized to recruit social media users in Saudi Arabia aged ≥18. RESULTS: Four statements were used to evaluate participants' knowledge of the role of prophetic medicine in preventing and treating COVID-19. The participants had significant levels of knowledge, with an average of 90.3% correct answers. They strongly agreed with prophetic advice, including quarantine, travel bans and hand washing to prevent COVID-19 infection, with a mean of 4.3. In addition, the participants followed prophetic advice, including walking for half an hour, keeping social distance, wearing masks, and taking vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infection, with a mean of 4.2. CONCLUSIONS: The current study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Muslim residents of Saudi Arabia concerning prophetic medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study revealed that participants had good knowledge of prophetic medicine, including the use of natural products such as honey, ginger, garlic, and olive oil, as well as herbal products such as black seeds, and practices such as cupping. The study also showed that participants strongly believed that COVID-19 preventative measures - including quarantine, travel bans, and handwashing - were introduced by prophetic medicine. Practices including self-isolation, hand washing, and travel bans help prevent, treat and control diseases. They assist in maintaining good health and developing resistance to diseases.

Fully Protected: A Look at PPE and the Armor of God.

ABSTRACT: The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic can be compared with a Christian's spritiual protective action of putting on the armor of God as described in the New Testament. The use and significance of each item of PPE is compared with the equivalent article of the spiritual armor of God.

Deceased-Donor Organ Transplantation in India: Current Status, Challenges, and Solutions.

Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, Kerala, Chandigarh, Karnataka, National Capital Territory of Delhi, and Rajasthan are states and union territories having active deceased-donor organ transplant programs in India. Transplant data (2013-2018) have been collected by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization from all states and union territories of India and submitted to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation. From 2013 to 2018, 49155 transplants were reported in India, including 39000 living-donor organ recipients and 10 155 deceased-donor organ recipients. These transplants were for kidney (living donor = 32584, deceased donor = 5748), liver (living donor = 6416, deceased donor = 2967), heart (deceased donor = 895), lung (deceased donor = 459), pancreas (deceased donor = 78), and small bowel (deceased donor = 8). According to 2018 data, India was the second largest transplanting country in the world in terms of the absolute number of transplants. Here, we discuss the status, progress, challenges, and solutions for deceaseddonor organ transplantation. The plan to increase rates of organ donation in India include the following points: teamwork and focus by intensive care unit doctors; public education on organ donation using social media; professional education and family donation conversation programs for brain death declaration and donor management; organ procurement organizations; international collaboration and regular meetings and updates for organizations working in the field of organ transplantation; grief counseling and reporting of potential donation for families of recently deceased people; nonfinancial incentivization to families of potential organ donors; expert committees and standard operating protocols for use of marginal donor organs, donation after circulatory death programs, and machine perfusion; maintenance of transparency and ethics in organ donation, allocation, and transplantation as directed by governmental, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental entities; and regular audit of progress and registry data.

Reflection: Spirituality during COVID-19.

In this article, the author describes how spirituality affect the lives of people during COVID-19 pandemic. The author reflects on the meaning of religiosity and spirituality (R/S) from a practical, theological and pastoral point of view. This article presents new insights on the ongoing search for meaning and purpose of life amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spiritual care - 'A deeper immunity' - A response to Covid-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented unprecedented health challenges across all strata in society throughout the world. The COVID experience has caused us to reflect on quality of life, health and well-being and, just as important, end of life. During this time, spiritual care forms a vital component of holistic health management, especially in terms of coping, coming to terms with illness, suffering and ultimately death. The relationship with the transcendent or sacred has a strong influence on a people's beliefs, attitudes, emotions and behaviour. Populations, communities, families and individuals have always found solace through their religious or philosophical beliefs during times of personal adversity and widespread anxiety or disaster. Although spiritual care has always been a part of the domain of religious beliefs, a more contemporary perspective is that spiritual care forms part of the human psyche and thus forms part of human care, health and well-being for families, patients and healthcare workers. Spiritual care deals with the provision of compassion and empathy during periods of heightened stress, distress and anxiety within care. This article provides insights into the necessity of providing spiritual care as a means of coping and well-being for families, patients and healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physician Disengagement and Spiritual Dissonance in Medical Students.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Religion and spirituality constitute aspects of diversity that physicians must respect to provide patient-centered care. By seeing patients as individuals and integrating their religious and spiritual needs into their medical care, providers can deliver personalized health care. Their needs become even more critical for the frontline providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most patients want their physicians to address their religious and spiritual needs when it comes to their health (eg, during isolation precautions). Despite increases in educational curricula about this integration, most physicians still do not provide this aspect of patient-centered care. METHODS: In this observational study, we examined how medical students responded to a patient experiencing a religious and spiritual issue by having standardized patients (SPs) rate the students' level of engagement with them. We also asked students to reflect on their own spirituality, in terms of their current and ideal levels of spirituality, the difference of which indicates spiritual dissonance. Medical students (n=232) completed the Spiritual Health and Life-Outcome Measure (SHALOM) questionnaire, and their SPs completed the Princess Margaret Hospital Satisfaction With Doctor Questionnaire (PSQ-MD). RESULTS: Results indicated a significant, positive correlation between disengagement (from PSQ-MD) and transcendent spirituality dissonance (from SHALOM). CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of disconnection from a patient case with a religious and spiritual issue (portrayed by an SP) were associated with higher levels of incongruity in medical students' responses as to their ideal relationship with the transcendent (eg, God, Allah, peace).

Assisting Faith-Based Organizations Increase Sense of Belonging during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected the three basic needs of individuals. Faith-based organization leaders are carrying the additional weight of stewardship of members during these challenging times. Many Faith-based organization leaders feel a sense of responsibility to create environments where members feel a sense of belonging. Five considerations for Faith-based organization leaders hoping to increase belonging are discussed below. Specifically, low-cost options are presented that could be implemented in small-to-large Faith-based organizations.

COVID-19 and African American Religious Institutions.

Religious institutions have historically been an essential resource in African American communities and can serve as indispensable partners during a public health crisis. The purpose of this perspective is to establish African American churches, mosques, and temples as essential for an immediate, comprehensive, and sustained response to the elevated risk for and spread of COVID-19 among African Americans.

Religion and Faith Perception in a Pandemic of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted religion and faith in different ways. Numerous restrictions have been implemented worldwide. Believers are in conflict with authorities' warnings that gatherings must be limited to combat the spread of the virus. Religion has always played a role of the balm for the soul, and the regular religious participation is associated with better emotional health outcomes. In our study, we examined whether the exposure to COVID-19 enhances the faith. The instrument used was a survey verifying the power of spirituality in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

One novel virus, different beliefs as playmakers towards disease spread in Africa: looking at COVID-19 from a religious lens.

Religious and spiritual observances that draw large people together are pervasive in many parts of the world, including Africa. With the recent emergence of COVID-19, these mass religious gatherings may pose significant threats to human health. Given the compromised healthcare systems in many parts of Africa, faith-based institutions have a huge responsibility towards the management of the potential spread of the virus through effective organizational strategies or interventions. This essay sheds light on what the novel virus has to do with religion, the role of religious practices in inhibiting or spreading COVID-19, and what appropriate evidence-based interventions religious or faith-based organizations could adopt to help prevent the spread of the disease in Africa through a unity of thoughts for religious action.