Shenmiao Wang - Week 6

Week 6 Topic - You Are Here: Locating ‘Spirituality’ on the Map of the Current Medical World by P Ramakrishnan

The article by Ramakrishnan dwells on the chaplaincy process and ways the procedure is empowered by the mindfulness-based meditation module to develop pastors’ skills in self-awareness. The assimilation of the chaplaincy process and mindfulness-based meditation creates deep-listening skills that provide embodied and empathetic care as the model for training physicians in spiritual care. The need for medical practitioners to enact spiritual care among the ailing as the practice is accorded to the sick by the religious institutions and their leaders (Ramakrishan 398). For instance, the incorporation of the traditional complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) and clinical pastoral education (CPE) into patient care programs promotes empathy and embodied care (Ramakrishan 399). Hence, this segment debates the implications of the TCAM and CPE programs on modern medicinal practices.

            The paper explains how modern science catches up to the Spirit Realm. The chaplain’s TCAM and CPE models rely on religious-scriptural studies, clinical chaplaincy, and theology to enable physicians to become spiritual and religious. Nonetheless, for physicians to attain the mental tools that include embodied care and empathy, the chaplaincy model must be grounded in the neurophysiological mechanism (a process that provides an evidence-based approach that connects relational mindfulness to spiritual experiences) (Ramakrishan 400). Thus, the American Medical Association (AMA) should align with the Accredited Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) that governs CPE training to promote secularized and voluntary Chaplaincy spiritual care among patients. The chaplain’s as well as the neurophysiological approaches may be utilized during the Coronavirus pandemic as the models provide hope for the sick, and the physicians react by showing empathy and embodied care. 

Work Cited

Ramakrishan, Parameshwaran. “You are here.” Locating ‘spirituality’ on the map of the current medical world. Walters Kluwer Journals, vol. 28, no.5, 9 Sept. 2015, pp. 393-401,

            doi: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000180. Accessed 7 April 2020.