Health care should address the holistic gap between health outcomes, spirituality, religion, and humanistic care to optimize patient care. Treating the whole person encompasses both physical and metaphysical elements. Patients want health care professionals to recognize their spiritual and religious preferences, because these matter in their approach to illness, coping, and long-term outcomes.
Keywords: aging; goals of care; physician-patient relationship; religion; spirituality.
© 2023 The Authors. Aging Cell published by Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.