Nursing: Significance for spiritual care

Nurses can be seen to contribute significantly to the spiritual objectives and programs in hospitals and other health agencies under religious auspices. One impressive example is nursing involvement with and cooperation in the pastoral care program at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. At this hospital the nurse is both an assistant to and a coworker with the chaplain and functions in many ways as facilitator and supporter in his spiritual mission.     

Counseling in heart surgery

Conclusion In conclusion, a word about the spiritual aspects of the ministry to the heart patient. All members of the hospital bly, the family coming to the hospital team minister in one way or another. The chaplain has a unique place on this team. He, too, can escape from a ministry by use of religious injections. There are times for prayer and sacraments, and only the individual chaplain can finally decide the appropriate if, where, and when.As the chaplain explores the meaning of the hospital experience with the patient—the patient's feelings about life, death, experiences, and goals; giving and understanding where it is needed; aiding in the healing of the whole person—surely this ministry is a reflection of his motivation and is in part an attempt to realize in another the wholeness and fullness of man. It is not the physical therapy of the doctor; it is not the psychotherapy of the psychiatrist. It is the spiritual therapy of the chaplain.     

Hospital Chaplaincy As Agapeic Intervention

The notion of hospital chaplaincy raises significant concerns,because it provides for the possibility that the chaplain becomesa generic chaplain rather than a member of a particular faith.Despite these reservations, however, I think that Mennonitesshould serve as hospital chaplains. Instead of seeing themselvesas chaplains to all, though, Mennonites ought to see the servicethey provide as analogous to relief and development work. Thiswould make Mennonite chaplaincy a form of what Mennonite scholarC. Norman Krause calls "agapeic intervention," which would allowfor the ministry to the sick without requiring genericism.     

Continuity of Spiritual Care

Using a study in which clients were visited by the same chaplain at many points throughout the cycle of their care, the author demonstrates the benefits of consistent spiritual care. Positive collaboration with the total treatment team and access to information systems made it possible to achieve continuity of spiritual care. The chaplain had an enlarged perception of the efficacy of the spiritual care offered and increased job satisfaction as well.     

To Be With Them: A Hospital Chaplain's Reflection of the Bedside Ministry to Terminally III and Dying People

The author, an ordained Lutheran pastor, reflects upon his experiencesas chaplain at a small hospital in southwestern Germany (Tropenklinik– Paul Lecher Krankenhaus, Tübingen). Besides itsexpertise in the treatment of tropical diseases this 100 + bedhospital serves as the referral hospital for terminally illand dying patients from the local University hospitals and thesurrounding area. The experiences at the bedside of such patientswith various denominational and religious backgrounds challengedthe chaplain to go beyond the confines of any fixed theologicalsystem or counseling technique. They made him to discover threeessentials as the very basis of such ministry, which he sharesin this article. He identifies these as (1) the necessity torealize the situation sober mindedly, (2) the desire to becomea companion, and (3) the venture of confident faith, where holdingon to any genuine perspective of life is deemed ridiculous.     

A national survey of hospital directors' views about the importance of various chaplain roles: differences among disciplines and types of hospitals

A national random sample of hospital directors was asked to rate the importance of seven categories of chaplain roles and functions: 246 nursing directors, 267 social services directors, 307 medical directors, and 611 pastoral care directors. All four groups rated end-of-life care, prayer, and emotional support as being between very important and extremely important. Other roles, including consultation, advocacy, community outreach, and religious services and rituals were rated significantly less important. Significant differences were found across disciplines and hospital settings (general, psychiatric, etc.). Medical directors rated most chaplain roles lower than other directors did, and directors in psychiatric hospitals rated all roles, except religious services/rituals, lower than their counterparts in other types of hospitals. The importance that directors accorded to all the chaplain roles examined was also influenced by their own spirituality and religiosity, as well as the religious affiliation of their institution.     

Values interpretation: A new model for hospital ministry

The importance of values in clinical settings is a topic of increasing discussion in the medical literature, but the nature of values and the process of interpreting them have received little attention. The hospital chaplain or religious professional is an underused resource in addressing values issues. This paper summarizes the current models of the hospital chaplaincy in historical context, and then develops a new model drawn from the disciplines of pastoral care and clinical medical ethics in order to address problems involving values in clinical settings. The model construes the chaplain as values interpreter who provides both consultation and liaison functions in clinical situations. We present a clinical case to illustrate the role of the values interpreter. We conclude that the religious professional can make an important contribution to both clinical decision making and medical education through such a model.The authors thank Don S. Browning, Ph.D., and Thomas H. Jobe, M.D., for their critical readings of earlier versions of this paper.     

Provision of spiritual and pastoral care facilities in a high-security hospital and their increased use by those of Muslim compared to Christian faith

The relationship between religion and psychiatry remains controversial amongst British psychiatrists. We looked at the provision of spiritual and pastoral care facilities in a high-security hospital and the role of faith chaplains with particular reference to the Muslim minority group. There was a significantly higher uptake of pastoral care services amongst those of Muslim faith compared to Church of England and Roman Catholic Christians. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Resources allocated for the Muslim faith group were limited and heavily dependent on the availability of the Muslim faith chaplain. Our study highlighted the need for clearly defined standards for the provision of spiritual and pastoral care within high-secure psychiatric hospitals, and by implication other NHS psychiatric settings, a re-examination of the role of the faith chaplain in relation to the clinical team, and raised questions about the equitable allocation of resources between various faith groups within the hospital.     

Is there a chaplain in your clinic?

As medical care continues to move outside the hospitals, clients with spiritual needs are more often to be found in clinics and doctors' offices than inpatient settings. Chaplains in partnership with physicians can contribute to healing in outpatient centers. A study of one group of clinic patients indicates that an outpatient setting may be a better place to address spiritual needs than a hospital setting. Pastoral interventions are acceptable to many clients, who according to statistics are already using alternative therapies to augment traditional medical care. Paul A. Mandziuk, M. Div., a priest of the Missionaries of La Salette, is a chaplain at Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center in St. Louis, MO, and serves on the leadership council of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.     

The homosexual in society

This article deals primarily with the social phase of the homosexual. We are now working on articles on two other phases of the problem: an outstanding psychiatrist is preparing one on the psychological dynamics which go into the making of the homosexual, and a hospital chaplain will write another on the contribution the minister can make to the treatment of the problem.     

论移植医学新角色——移植协调员的工作职责

随着移植医学的蓬勃发展,许多国家纷纷制定了人体器官捐赠和移植法令,建立了移植协调机构等配套管理措施和制度。随之,一个新型的专业角色——移植协调员应运而生。在研究国外移植协调员的工作基础上,借鉴国外的经验和模式,根据我国实际状况,提出我国移植协调员的工作职责。     

The telltale heart: public policy and the utilization of non-heart-beating donors

The transplant community has quietly initiated efforts to expand the current pool of cadaver organ donors to include those who are dead by cardiac criteria but cannot be pronounced dead using brain-based criteria. There are many reasons for concern about "policy creep" regarding who is defined as a potential organ donor. These reasons include loss of trust in the transplant community because of confusion over the protocols to be used, blurring the line between life and death, stress on family members, and burdens imposed on health care providers when a long-standing policy regarding who can serve as a cadaver organ donor is unilaterally changed. While these concerns are not sufficient reason for abandoning efforts to broaden existing eligibility standards for cadaver donation, they are sufficient reasons for the transplant community to desist in changing existing standards without widespread professional and public discussion.     

"Elicitation hooks": a discourse analysis of chaplain-patient interaction in pastoral and spiritual care

The article considers the communicative role of the hospital chaplain and maps some of the language strategies deployed to facilitate disclosure of the patients' concerns and achieve enhanced spiritual care. These include: i) involvement, ii) politeness and iii) encouraging disclosure or exploring emotion.     

Death in Hospital: The Place of Religion in the Care of the Patient

The reflections in this article are based on my experience over the past ten years as hospital chaplain of a large district general hospital within the UK National Health Service. I realize the limitations of this experience, but I hope that I may achieve some insights that have a wider application. I attempt to bring my hospital experience into a creative relationship with other aspects of my life, which include a commitment to Christian–Muslim dialogue, and a background of life and work in the Middle East, where I worked for the Anglican Church in Lebanon and Syria from 1973 until 1982.     

Transcultural hospital pastoral care

Transcultural hospital pastoral care's subjects, the immigrant and the refugee, are described. Differences and similarities are noted. Three difficulties—culture shock, prejudice, and ethnocentrism—are followed by principles of transcultural hospital pastoral care, the significance of hospitalization, and a case history.The Rev. David G. Hawkins, B.A., S.T.M., D. Rel., R.S.W., St. George's Anglican Church in Vancouver, is a chaplain at Vancouver General Hospital.     

Rolling away the stone: post-abortion women in the Christian community

This article seeks to bring to awareness and address the issues of a neglected group of people in need of pastoral care: women who have had an abortion. It offers some commentary regarding what many women experience following an abortion, focuses on the story of a specific woman, and goes on to offer a biblical perspective for a pastoral response to their needs. Responses to the article are offered by a healthcare chaplain and a seminary professor.     

Perceptions of Chaplains’ Value and Impact Within Hospital Care Teams

Many scholars have written about the role of spirituality in health care. One mechanism for incorporating spirituality into the care of patients is to integrate clinically trained chaplains into hospital care teams. We examined in a mixed-methods fashion, the effects of this type of integrated care team within a teaching hospital setting. The quality and impact of chaplain involvement were studied from patient and physician-in-training perspectives, using data from more than 200 patients and physicians in training. Findings clearly show that clinically trained chaplains can contribute meaningful expertise and real value to the quality and comprehensiveness of patient and physician experiences.     

A journey in pastoral care: A case study

What is pastoral care? Many health professionals are not clear about the role of the chaplain on the health care team. This article addresses the question by using an actual case study to demonstrate how the chaplain interacts with the patient and the value of this interaction to the well-being of the patient. It attempts to define, by example, pastoral care.     

Warren Zevon’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Wind</Emphasis> and Ecclesiastes: Searching for Meaning at the Threshold of Death

Telling one's story itself brings purpose to ones life, and it is an essential part of coming to grips with death. The book of Ecclesiastes and Warren Zevon’s album The Wind express the hope for social immortality rather than an actual afterlife. Both of them are suffused with a sense of death-awareness, although their location in time and place and the genre of their expressions are quite different. By looking closely at these texts, one is able to ascertain certain aspects of life review which are necessary for wholeness and completion. Hospice Chaplain CHRISTUS VNA Hospice and Palliative Care, 4415 Centerview, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. Reverend Philip Browning Helsel is a hospice chaplain at CHRISTUS Hospice in San Antontio. He received his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and Clinical Pastoral Education units from Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, AZ, and is an ordained minister in the Church of God (Anderson, IN). He has been a chaplain in psychiatric and general hospital settings. Past publications include articles in Pastoral Psychology and Presence, the Journal of Spiritual Directors International. He is working on a book about the life review process in literature and music, and applying for membership in the Association of Professional Chaplains.