Sacred Moment Rounds: Reclaiming the Sacred in the Practice of Medicine
Nathan Houchens, University of Michigan, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Martha Quinn, University of Michigan, Karen E. Fowler, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Christopher Smith, University of Michigan, Christina Wright, University of Michigan, Latoya Kuhn, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Jessica Ameling, University of Michigan, and Sanjay Saint, University of Michigan, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System
Within the practice of medicine, there arise moments that transcend ordinary clinical encounters. Moments marked by presence, deep connection, awe, vulnerability, and mutual recognition of shared humanity. These sacred moments reveal the spiritual dimension of healing, in which the clinician and patient meet in a space that feels consecrated by compassion and meaning. Christina Puchalski described such experiences as expressions of “spiritual care,” moments in which the deepest values and longings of both patient and clinician are engaged (Critical Care Clinics, 2004). Empirical studies suggest that sacred moments strengthen empathy, enhance resilience, and reawaken clinicians to the moral and spiritual call of their vocation. Despite their frequency and importance, these moments are seldom named or reflected upon within the culture of contemporary medicine.
Modern healthcare stands at a crossroads of technological mastery and moral fatigue. High rates of clinician burnout and depersonalization reflect a loss not only of energy, but of meaning. Physicians describe feeling severed from the sense of calling that once fueled their work. Meanwhile, patients’ mental, emotional, and spiritual needs frequently go unmet, not from lack of compassion but from systems that privilege efficiency over connection. The result is that medicine risks becoming a system of caregiving without care. Addressing this challenge requires more than workflow reform; it needs a reorientation toward relationships, meaning, and the sacred.
A growing body of literature affirms that healing emerges from relationships – the attentive, compassionate presence between persons. Relationship-centered and spiritually integrated care have been shown to enhance well-being for both patients and clinicians. Viktor Frankl reminds us that “those who have a why to live can bear almost any how” (Man’s Search for Meaning, 1946). Within medicine, sacred moments offer glimpses of that “why” – they reconnect clinicians to purpose, remind them of the sanctity of life, and restore the moral center of healing.
We thus developed Sacred Moment Rounds, a pilot program conducted at two Midwestern academic medical centers. Sessions were offered to attending physicians who served on inpatient general medicine services. The aims of Sacred Moment Rounds were: (1) to introduce the concept of sacred moments through a review of relevant literature; (2) to offer a structured space for clinicians to share their own sacred moments; and (3) to explore how such sharing influences meaning, well-being, and connection.
Each session was grounded in empathy, respect, and shared humanity. Facilitators (a physician, a qualitative analyst, and a hospital chaplain) created a psychologically safe environment for storytelling and mutual reflection. Sessions were recorded and transcribed to capture participants’ experiences. Surveys, administered immediately following the sessions, included Likert-scale questions about perceived relevance and impact of the session and sacred moments in general. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed descriptively and thematically.
A total of 28 participants (64.3% male, 71.4% White) completed the post-session survey. All participants had experienced at least one sacred moment with a patient. The following percentages describe respondents’ somewhat or strong agreement (hereafter referred to as “agreed”): 96.4% agreed that experiencing a sacred moment with a patient helps them feel less burned out, 100% agreed that sacred moments with patients gives their work meaning, 96.4% agreed that the session was a good use of their time, and 92.9% agreed that they intend to use elements from the session to foster sacred moments in their practice. A total of 71.4% of respondents indicated they had “never” or “rarely” spoken with colleagues about sacred moment experiences.
Several participants mentioned how taking time to connect with a patient can set the stage for possible sacred moments.
Fostering more of that deeper knowledge of a person … acknowledging their humanity, then, I think can lay the groundwork for the openness when the time comes.
Others commented that their sacred moments were bi-directional.
…she looked at me and said ‘It must be really hard to have to come to work on Mother’s Day. You are not getting to be with your kids.’ And I … started crying because … knowing you are not going to see your kids … a year from now and you are worried about me...
Sacred Moment Rounds provide a structured space for clinicians to share and reflect upon moments of grace, vulnerability, and connection in patient care. In doing so, they invite participants to reclaim medicine as a moral and spiritual vocation. As burnout threatens to erode the soul of the profession, such practices serve as a reminder that healing begins not only in science but in presence.
Modern healthcare stands at a crossroads of technological mastery and moral fatigue. High rates of clinician burnout and depersonalization reflect a loss not only of energy, but of meaning. Physicians describe feeling severed from the sense of calling that once fueled their work. Meanwhile, patients’ mental, emotional, and spiritual needs frequently go unmet, not from lack of compassion but from systems that privilege efficiency over connection. The result is that medicine risks becoming a system of caregiving without care. Addressing this challenge requires more than workflow reform; it needs a reorientation toward relationships, meaning, and the sacred.
A growing body of literature affirms that healing emerges from relationships – the attentive, compassionate presence between persons. Relationship-centered and spiritually integrated care have been shown to enhance well-being for both patients and clinicians. Viktor Frankl reminds us that “those who have a why to live can bear almost any how” (Man’s Search for Meaning, 1946). Within medicine, sacred moments offer glimpses of that “why” – they reconnect clinicians to purpose, remind them of the sanctity of life, and restore the moral center of healing.
We thus developed Sacred Moment Rounds, a pilot program conducted at two Midwestern academic medical centers. Sessions were offered to attending physicians who served on inpatient general medicine services. The aims of Sacred Moment Rounds were: (1) to introduce the concept of sacred moments through a review of relevant literature; (2) to offer a structured space for clinicians to share their own sacred moments; and (3) to explore how such sharing influences meaning, well-being, and connection.
Each session was grounded in empathy, respect, and shared humanity. Facilitators (a physician, a qualitative analyst, and a hospital chaplain) created a psychologically safe environment for storytelling and mutual reflection. Sessions were recorded and transcribed to capture participants’ experiences. Surveys, administered immediately following the sessions, included Likert-scale questions about perceived relevance and impact of the session and sacred moments in general. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed descriptively and thematically.
A total of 28 participants (64.3% male, 71.4% White) completed the post-session survey. All participants had experienced at least one sacred moment with a patient. The following percentages describe respondents’ somewhat or strong agreement (hereafter referred to as “agreed”): 96.4% agreed that experiencing a sacred moment with a patient helps them feel less burned out, 100% agreed that sacred moments with patients gives their work meaning, 96.4% agreed that the session was a good use of their time, and 92.9% agreed that they intend to use elements from the session to foster sacred moments in their practice. A total of 71.4% of respondents indicated they had “never” or “rarely” spoken with colleagues about sacred moment experiences.
Several participants mentioned how taking time to connect with a patient can set the stage for possible sacred moments.
Fostering more of that deeper knowledge of a person … acknowledging their humanity, then, I think can lay the groundwork for the openness when the time comes.
Others commented that their sacred moments were bi-directional.
…she looked at me and said ‘It must be really hard to have to come to work on Mother’s Day. You are not getting to be with your kids.’ And I … started crying because … knowing you are not going to see your kids … a year from now and you are worried about me...
Sacred Moment Rounds provide a structured space for clinicians to share and reflect upon moments of grace, vulnerability, and connection in patient care. In doing so, they invite participants to reclaim medicine as a moral and spiritual vocation. As burnout threatens to erode the soul of the profession, such practices serve as a reminder that healing begins not only in science but in presence.