Spiritual care is a recognised component of holistic palliative care. When faced by incurable progressive disease patients are often left asking questions such as ‘why me?’, ‘why now?’, ‘so what next?’ – which are not easily addressed by a biomedical approach alone. Our assessment form contains a brief inventory with four easy to ask questions about faith and spirituality. Some of these discussions develop with time after we have been caring for the patient at home as well as in the hospital, other patients are keen to discuss spiritual concerns immediately. We also ask if there is anything the patient (or family) would like us to do to help them with spiritual issues. One such patient (with no guardian, far from home, with advanced Kaposi’s sarcoma who had come to the hospital requesting amputation of his stinking leg) expressed the wish to see a pastor from his church denomination.
On the morning he was leaving our nurse was able to identify a pastor for ‘emergency spiritual care’. They chatted and prayed together in the clinic before his dressing was done and medications were given.
Tiyanjane make links with whoever we can to provide holistic care.