Hospital Handbook on Multiculturalism and Religion

In our religiously pluralistic society, clergy, medical and nursing staffs in modern hospitals are confronted with caring for people with varied beliefs and customs. Since the overall care of a patient, and not just the surgeries performed or medicines given, affect an individual's recovery, it is vitally important to be familiar with cultural and religious understandings and expectations around hygiene, pastoral care, autopsies, transfusions, and even the practices associated with death itself. A Hospital Handbook on Multiculturalism and Religion is a succinct guide to the care of patients from a variety of faith perspectives: Christian, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhist, B'hai, and others. Each chapter examines not only the customs themselves, but the significance of certain rites and attitudes, supplying health care workers and chaplains with the information they need to provide the best care possible.