I lead the Spiritual Care department at a large, Level 1 Trauma Center as well as run training programs for chaplain interns/residents and teach spirituality and religion in our medical school.
I could go on for paragraphs about the lack of resources and professionalism in the field of professional chaplaincy. I am sure the rural hospitals ran into a lack of funding, as that is true for so many places and not seeing spiritual support as a regulatory requirement - which it is - not just a "nice thing to have." It also gets into problems when we use volunteers (most of whom are untrained) to do a job. We would never expect nurses or social workers to volunteer their time.
Thank you for being an advocate for the importance of chaplaincy. There are more research studies being done about the impact of spiritual care on clinical outcomes, which I find encouraging and can point you in that direction if you'd like to learn more.
Christine, thank you for your kind comment and the wonderful information! I'm always happy to learn more so please send whatever you think relevant. I have to say, you make a great point about the problem of volunteers. As I alluded, I grew up around pastors. Many of them are kind, caring people but not always good counselors. Anyway, I just signed up to receive your posts. I look forward to them. Have a wonderful day!
I'm a retired hospice chaplain. There were many occasions when I encountered the problem of clergy having no training (and sometimes no inclination) in pastoral care. To a large extent, my work was about listening. It was a great privilege and often put me in a unique relationship with the patients. Unlike medical personnel or social workers, the chaplain isn't there to fix anything. It can be very freeing.
Lovely to connect with you! Two great resources on chaplaincy: Transforming Chaplaincy (https://www.transformchaplaincy.org/) is doing great work on research as it relates to spiritual care. And the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/) does a lot to raise awareness about chaplains as well as support those in the field.
And thanks for signing up for my posts - I'm always looking for topics to write about, so if you have ideas/questions, I'm up for suggestions!
Thank you for this excellent post Dr. Leap. And thank you for your work Christine. As a former nurse as well as a patient I can attest to the importance of spiritual care practice.
We have a chaplaincy residency program at the hospital where I work in Berkeley, California. All faiths and the chaplains have "training" in all faiths, regardless of their beliefs. On call 24/7!
That's a wonderful thing to offer your patients. And I love that they're on call! I often think that the presence of a chaplain would be such a remarkable comfort for the staff as well. Thanks for your note!
Getting caught up on newsletters...excellent one. The thing I miss the most from my 7 years at a trauma center full time is the people I worked with, and not least among them were the chaplains---Jewish, Catholic, Protestant...it didn't matter--to me or patients. They offered a voice for patient advocacy, cried with staff when sadness happened(which was all too often), and in fact, one of them performed the marriage service for my wife and me. When I went to a community hospital, we had chaplains then as well, and formed bonds with them. Now, chaplains are seen as a luxury, and not on full time staff at our facility. No announcements the program was stopping, no discussions, just one day it was gone.. HUGE mistake. Just seeing them walk in during a crisis is comforting, knowing someone is praying for patients, family, and staff.
Locums is short for 'locum tenens,' which means 'temporary location.' Locums is a kind of work where physicians move around to different hospitals that have need of their skills. Many hospitals have inadequate staff and locums is a way to fill in the gap.
Thanks for writing this. I'm a hospital chaplain and write about my work in my substack publication - https://journeyingalongside.substack.com/
I lead the Spiritual Care department at a large, Level 1 Trauma Center as well as run training programs for chaplain interns/residents and teach spirituality and religion in our medical school.
I could go on for paragraphs about the lack of resources and professionalism in the field of professional chaplaincy. I am sure the rural hospitals ran into a lack of funding, as that is true for so many places and not seeing spiritual support as a regulatory requirement - which it is - not just a "nice thing to have." It also gets into problems when we use volunteers (most of whom are untrained) to do a job. We would never expect nurses or social workers to volunteer their time.
Thank you for being an advocate for the importance of chaplaincy. There are more research studies being done about the impact of spiritual care on clinical outcomes, which I find encouraging and can point you in that direction if you'd like to learn more.
Christine, thank you for your kind comment and the wonderful information! I'm always happy to learn more so please send whatever you think relevant. I have to say, you make a great point about the problem of volunteers. As I alluded, I grew up around pastors. Many of them are kind, caring people but not always good counselors. Anyway, I just signed up to receive your posts. I look forward to them. Have a wonderful day!
I'm a retired hospice chaplain. There were many occasions when I encountered the problem of clergy having no training (and sometimes no inclination) in pastoral care. To a large extent, my work was about listening. It was a great privilege and often put me in a unique relationship with the patients. Unlike medical personnel or social workers, the chaplain isn't there to fix anything. It can be very freeing.
Lovely to connect with you! Two great resources on chaplaincy: Transforming Chaplaincy (https://www.transformchaplaincy.org/) is doing great work on research as it relates to spiritual care. And the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/) does a lot to raise awareness about chaplains as well as support those in the field.
And thanks for signing up for my posts - I'm always looking for topics to write about, so if you have ideas/questions, I'm up for suggestions!
Thank you for this excellent post Dr. Leap. And thank you for your work Christine. As a former nurse as well as a patient I can attest to the importance of spiritual care practice.
I appreciate your kind note! Have a wonderful day.
We have a chaplaincy residency program at the hospital where I work in Berkeley, California. All faiths and the chaplains have "training" in all faiths, regardless of their beliefs. On call 24/7!
That's a wonderful thing to offer your patients. And I love that they're on call! I often think that the presence of a chaplain would be such a remarkable comfort for the staff as well. Thanks for your note!
Yes, good for the staff!
Getting caught up on newsletters...excellent one. The thing I miss the most from my 7 years at a trauma center full time is the people I worked with, and not least among them were the chaplains---Jewish, Catholic, Protestant...it didn't matter--to me or patients. They offered a voice for patient advocacy, cried with staff when sadness happened(which was all too often), and in fact, one of them performed the marriage service for my wife and me. When I went to a community hospital, we had chaplains then as well, and formed bonds with them. Now, chaplains are seen as a luxury, and not on full time staff at our facility. No announcements the program was stopping, no discussions, just one day it was gone.. HUGE mistake. Just seeing them walk in during a crisis is comforting, knowing someone is praying for patients, family, and staff.
Thank you for bringing this issue to light. In today’s world I believe a chaplain is needed more than ever.
What exactly is a locus or travel physician?
Lola Murray
Locums is short for 'locum tenens,' which means 'temporary location.' Locums is a kind of work where physicians move around to different hospitals that have need of their skills. Many hospitals have inadequate staff and locums is a way to fill in the gap.