General practitioners and their possible role in providing spiritual care: a qualitative study.
Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 14960221.
- Also identified by PMC identifier PMC1314750.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
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.