Efectos de la oración de intercesión en pacientes críticos y terminales: revisión sistemática de la literatura

Introduction

Intercessory prayer is understood has been shown to help through various psychological and biological changes that are actually or potentially associated with better health.

Objective

The objective of the study is to identify the effects of intercessory prayer in critical and terminal patients.

Methodology

A systematic review of the literature was carried out. The search for articles by 2 researchers belonging to the project in the main databases. It was restricted to literature on humans, over 18 years of age, published in the last 15 (fifteen) years in Spanish and English. No breed or country restrictions were made.

Results

The 5 studies were evaluated with PEDro, where the score varied between 8 to 10 points, thus indicating a score that determined them as high-quality studies. The studies included patients over 18 years of age with critical illnesses (in the intensive care unit) and terminal illnesses (oncology in radiotherapy or chemotherapy), finding that patients who received adjuvant management with this measure had better results in mortality, prognosis, requirement of mechanical ventilation and a lower rate of multiple organ dysfunction.

Conclusions

Intercessory prayer has different effects that favor the recovery of patients and improve the prognosis, which is why it can be recommended as an adjuvant therapy for patients with terminal illnesses or critically ill patients.