Pastoral Care

SECTION 1: FUNCTIONS & ACTIVITIES OF THE HOSPITAL PASTOR

The Hospital Pastor in Pastoral Care services is available to assist patients and families in coping with the experience of being in the hospital and dealing with illness. Pastoral Care is concerned with issues that affect both emotional and spiritual well-being.

Pastoral Care services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We offer comfort through prayer, pastoral counseling, or a listening ear. We also assist patients in contacting their minister or family members as needed.

Patients, family members, medical workers and hospital staff often need someone to turn to for understanding and hope.

The Hospital Pastor, part of the hospital team, makes daily rounds and is available 24-hours a day to patients and staff. Not being a "conventional" member of the healthcare team or of the patient's family, the Pastor can objectively provide spiritual guidance, counseling and support.

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in the U.S. states, "Patients have a fundamental right to considerate care that safeguards their personal dignity and respects their cultural, psychosocial, and spiritual values." A Canadian accreditation agency makes similar statements. Such regulations, and efforts to meet them, flow from the belief that attention to the human spirit, including mind, heart and soul, contributes to the goals of healthcare organizations.

The activities of the Hospital Pastor include diverse interactions with patients and families, professional staff, volunteers, and community members. While no one person can or need perform every function, they can be classified as follows:

1. When religious beliefs and practices are tightly interwoven with cultural contexts, the Hospital Pastor can serve as a powerful reminder of the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling power of religious faith.

2. The Hospital Pastor reaches across faith group boundaries and does not proselytize. Acting on behalf of their institutions, they also seek to protect patients from being confronted by other, unwelcome, forms of spiritual intrusion.

3. They provide supportive spiritual care though careful listening and demonstrating an understanding of persons in distress. Typical activities include:

• Grief and loss care

• Facilitation of spiritual issues related to organ/tissue donation

• Communication with caregivers

• Facilitation of staff communication

• Conflict resolution among staff members, patients, and family members

• Referral and linkage to internal and external resources

• Staff support relative to personal crises or work stress

• Institutional support during organizational change or crisis

4. The Hospital Pastor serves as member of patient care teams by:

• Performing visitation rounds and participating in patient care conferences, when invited

• Participation in interdisciplinary education

5. The Hospital Pastor leads religious ceremonies of worship and ritual such as:

• Prayer, meditation, and reading of holy texts

• Worship and observance of holy days

• Administer ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Supper)

• Memorial services and funerals

• Holiday observances

6. The Hospital Pastor may lead or participate in healthcare ethics programs by:

• Assisting patients and families in completing advance directives

• Clarifying value issues with patients, family members, staff and the organization

• Participating in Ethics Committees and Institutional Review Boards

• Consulting with staff and patients about ethical concerns

• Pointing to human value aspects of institutional policies and behaviors

• Conducting in-service education

7. The Hospital Pastor communicates with the healthcare team and the community regarding the relationship of religious and spiritual issues to institutional services in the following ways:

• Interpreting and analyzing multi-faith and multi­cultural traditions as they impact clinical services • Making presentations concerning spirituality and health issues

• Training of community religious representatives regarding the institutional procedures for effective visitation

• Training and supervising volunteers from religious communities who can provide spiritual care to the sick

• Conducting education programs for clergy and religious leaders

• Educating students in the healthcare professions regarding the interface of religion and spirituality with medical care

8. The Hospital Pastor acts as mediator and reconciler, functioning in the following ways for those who need a voice in the healthcare system:

• As advocate between institutions and patients, family members, and staff

• Clarifies and interprets institutional policies to patients, community clergy, and religious organizations

• Offers patients, family members and staff an emotionally and spiritually "safe" professional from whom they can seek counsel or guidance

• Represents community issues and concerns to the organization

9. The Hospital Pastor may serve as the contact person to arrange assessment for the appropriateness and coordination of complementary therapies.

Patients increasingly demonstrate interest in healing from many sources not represented within the traditional healthcare disciplines. Many of these complementary healing traditions are grounded in the world's religious traditions and chaplains may utilize or make a referral for complementary therapies such as:

• Relaxation training

• Meditation

• Music therapy

• Healing touch

10. The Hospital Pastor encourages and supports research activities to assess the effectiveness of providing spiritual care.