The videotaped interviews will continue monthly in the patients' homes for as long as they are well enough to participate. Issues such as previous encounters with death, the person's reaction to the illness, family dynamics, religious and moral principles, and lifetime accomplishments will be explored during the interviews. Kuhl spends the first session talking to patients about the impact of being told their diagnosis. For some, this means trying to make sense of religious values taught in their childhood. For others, the spirituality comes from outside organized religion.
Many people also harbour unresolved feelings about past deaths, some of which date back decades.
Kuhl would like to see this time increased, and he thinks undergraduate students should also receive more training. He is working with the new Division of Palliative Care at UBC to develop interdisciplinary courses. Doctors need to improve their skills for helping them deal with these difficult issues by acknowledging the links between body, mind and soul. This kind of care is too complex for physicians alone, Kuhl adds. He predicts that dying patients may be followed for up to 2 years, meaning that palliative care will become a form of long-term care, and most of these patients will die at home, not in the hospital.