Abstract:
How do clinicians begin to offer spiritual care to the dying patient? And why do they find it so hard to offer such care? In this essay, I reflect on my involvement in a course called “Exploring the spirituality of healing,” which I teach each year to medical students at the University of Auckland. In particular, I consider some of the difficult and anxiety-provoking issues I have discussed with the students about the provision of effective spiritual care for patients during their pilgrimage towards the end of life. And, in the process, I draw upon some of my own experiences –as a former nurse and fellow pilgrim, and as a person who has lost close family members to cancer.