Doctors working with spiritual healers

The New York Times had an article last weekend about a new program in a California hospital where Hmong Shaman are encouraged to visit patients and perform healing ceremonies in the hospital. The program is an example of how effective communication can foster understanding between patient and physicians, and also between cultures. Both the spiritual healers and the physicians have learned from about what the other does and why. Welcoming the Shamans has also helped to build a more trusting relationship between the Hmong community and Western medical practitioners. The Hmong patients, and the communities they come from, may be better able to trust and communicate with their physicians when their religious beliefs are upheld in the process.