DUTY CHAPLAIN

Responsibilities

• Participates in the delivery of a complete program of pastoral care to patients, their loved ones and staff of all faith traditions or no faith tradition.
• Affirms the spiritual and emotional needs of patients and families including psychosocial issues, adjustment to illness or disability, status of religious/spiritual coping; supports others in their process of identifying and applying their own values in decision making.
• Practices ministry of presence requiring active listening skills and empathy and providing nonjudgmental support within the context of the patient’s culture, values, and belief systems.
• Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide appropriate spiritual/emotional support to persons of all age groups.
• Helps patients and families deal with spiritual and emotional issues, among them: forgiveness, hope, courage, perseverance, loss of control, and relationships.
• Assists patients and families with ethical decision-making assistance (e.g., end-of-life decisions, information and execution of advance directives).
• Provides prayer when appropriate, support and comfort especially to the dying patient and her/his family.
• Documents spiritual assessments and interventions in the electronic record and intradepartmental records accurately, clearly, in a timely manner following all established policies.
• Shares in the responsibility of providing 24-hour pastoral care coverage.
• Provides appropriate worship services, liturgical and sacramental ministries for patients, families, and staff.
• Sustains an interdisciplinary approach to pastoral care.
• Participates as an active member of the interdisciplinary team with special skills in crisis intervention and conflict resolution.
• Provides appropriate input regarding spiritual/emotional issues to physicians and other caregivers.
• Coordinates and/or participates in ethics consultations.
• Supports efforts to foster spirituality in the workplace.
• Participates in maintenance of administrative procedures for the department in accordance with institutional policy.
• Maintains procedures to record pastoral care activity, to communicate with the other members of the department, and report to the department/institution.
• Participates in programs and administrative activities of the department.
• Participates in the department’s plan for continuous quality improvement.
• Supports the CPE Certified Educator and the students in their CPE experience.

Qualifications

• Prefer a bachelor’s or master’s degree in theology, but formal training (Stephen Ministry, BeFriender Ministry, or lay ministry training) and life experience will be taken into consideration.
• 1 unit of CPE accredited by the ACPE, with at least half of one’s clinical hours completed in a healthcare facility.
• Prefer acute care hospital chaplaincy experience.
• A general understanding of theology, pluralistic ministry, and a high regard for justice, equity, diversion, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Basic computer skills in data entry and word processing.
• Ability to remain resilient and to provide pastoral care in crisis situations such as traumas, codes, and deaths.
• Comfortable and able to identify and facilitate a wide range of emotional/spiritual experiences for others, notably grief and anger.
• Ability to remain mentally focused with tasks.
• Ability to function within a self-directed team model and have a reasonable tolerance/flexibility for change.
• Ability to relate to others with a high degree of interpersonal effectiveness.
• Ability to ambulate into a patient's room and stand at the bedside for an extended period of time.
• Must be able to work the night shift as well as weekends and holidays.