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Health Progress: MEASURING WHAT CHAPLAINS DO
A New Study Sheds Light on Chaplain Competencies and Productivity
Tags: SJHS, chaplaincy, chaplains, health, progress on 2008-03-06 -All Annotations (0) -About
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chaplains are learning to better define their roles, to articulate their duties, and to foster recognition of their contribution to patient care
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administrators are often content with the symbolic nature of the chaplain's role
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to define:
* A common language to describe what chaplains do
* The typical outcomes of their work
* The most appropriate ways to measure their productivity
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families see chaplains as surrogate family members who help them cope with the death of a loved one
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"Many of the people surveyed didn't know if they actually met a chaplain or not," he said. "We saw that chaplains had to take part of the responsibility for fuzzy perceptions of their roles. The problem is that fuzzy perceptions are not conducive to clear productivity and performance expectations or assessments for chaplains."
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chaplains are available to meet others' needs with no agendas of their own; to provide comfort and support in a variety of circumstances; and to facilitate an individual's journey toward peace and wholeness, among other things
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four recommendations to directors of spiritual/pastoral care for the improvement of chaplain performance and productivity measurement:
* Engage staff chaplains in a reflective process of role clarification, to identify and prioritize the most common key activities and competencies expected of them.
* Engage colleagues from other disciplines to help chaplains articulate performance expectations (outcome measurements) in a behavioral, common language.
* As a starting point for an improved and locally customized approach to measuring chaplain productivity (efficiency), create a template to define levels of task complexity for each of five to 10 key chaplain activities.
* Make a firm commitment to continuing education in order to develop the skills and competencies highlighted by the study, which will make a difference in the quality of spiritual/pastoral care.
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An example of a task involving a lower degree of complexity is a patient death that is anticipated by both the patient and his or her loved ones. A more complex situation arises in the case of the death of a patient who is unprepared for it or whose family members are in conflict about the wishes of the deceased. "In either case, a chaplain must respond to the patient's death, but many more skills and competencies are needed to deal effectively with the complex situation,"
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We have developed algorithms for this and other chaplain tasks to clarify roles, ensure quality spiritual care, and eliminate rework.
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a form that helps chaplains perform detailed assessments of patients' spiritual well-being
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measure their productivity in terms of outcomes. "We're also studying our chaplains' nonproductive time to determine whether we have the right people doing the right things and using the right tools in spiritual care,"
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developing a tool that will serve a dual purpose: to enable patients, families, and caregivers to evaluate chaplain performance and, at the same time, educate those populations about the role of chaplaincy. "The very process of completing the evaluation will educate the user about what they can and should expect from a chaplain,"
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Many of our residents conduct life reviews, looking back to assess the things they did or did not do. As chaplains, we can help them achieve closure and let go of guilt or regret. We can help them decide what they want to happen in their lives now as well as during and after their funerals. We also work with families to help them deal with the decline of a loved one.
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the importance of gathering qualitative rather than quantitative data
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The study helped our chaplains name and claim their profession by identifying some common language, levels of practice, competencies, and standards of care to which they can be held accountable
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when CHI's facilities develop their own individual, customized lists of chaplain competencies
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a lot of face-to-face dialogue with chaplains throughout our system to gain their acceptance of the study
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it is much harder to add value to an organization when no one understands what you do
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We dropped the chaplain-specific question from our survey for a number of reasons, but primarily because the chaplains' ministry today is so multidimensional that no single question can adequately capture their impact on patient satisfaction.
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more helpful and detailed feedback from routine internal surveys of sample groups of nurses, physicians, family members, and other key stakeholder recipients of their ministry
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the Catholic Health Initiatives Task Force on Chaplain Performance and Productivity, Measures of Chaplain Performance and Productivity
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