Abstract
We interviewed the general practitioners (GPs) of 40 patients with life-threatening illnesses over the course of the last year of life. We asked them to identify their patients' holistic needs, and to discuss whether they considered that they had a role in providing 'spiritual care'. The GPs varied greatly in their understanding of their patients' experiences and needs. Most said that they had a role in providing spiritual care, but hesitated to raise spiritual issues with patients, mentioning lack of time, a feeling that they should wait for a cue, or being unprepared or unskilled.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (289.5 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Koenig H. G. MSJAMA: religion, spirituality, and medicine: application to clinical practice. JAMA. 2000 Oct 4;284(13):1708–1708. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Murray Scott A., Boyd Kirsty, Kendall Marilyn, Worth Allison, Benton T. Fred, Clausen Hans. Dying of lung cancer or cardiac failure: prospective qualitative interview study of patients and their carers in the community. BMJ. 2002 Oct 26;325(7370):929–929. doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7370.929. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sheldon M. G. The Christian approach to whole-person medicine. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1989 Apr;39(321):166–166. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]