Interdisciplinary Collaboration between Chaplains and Ethicists to Improve Patient Care and Communication with the Health Care Team
Peggy Determeyer, PhD, MDiv, MBA, BCC, HEC-C, Hope and Healing Center & Institute, Sarah Knoll Sweeney, MDiv, ACPE, Michael Lee, MDiv, BCC, and David Leard, MDiv, BCC, Memorial Hermann Hospital System
As spiritual and emotional care providers, chaplains are trained in communications skills, making them well-positioned to allow families to share their treatment concerns. Ethicists identify similar issues when there are mismatches between patient/family expectations and the treatment team. A 2008 Hastings Center Report authored by Martin L. Smith notes that “both chaplains and clinical ethicists can serve as patient advocates, assist with advance care planning, facilitate communication and reduce conflicts among various stakeholders, and refer patients, families, and staff to other organizational resources after identifying their needs.”
Recent academic studies have highlighted the large number of chaplains who are included in ethics consults, taking advantage of the crossover of skills used by both disciplines. A recent survey of more than 300 chaplains noted that “the majority (61.5%) reported involvement as a member of the ethics committee at their institution, with 31.3% functioning as the Chair or Co-chair of the committee” (Wirpsa et al, 2024). The challenge is assuring that chaplains have additional training necessary to assure their competence in healthcare ethics. A study conducted by Dr. David Fleenor et al (2022) noted that, while three of the Association of Professional Chaplains’ 31 competencies pertain to ethics, 18% of Clinical Pastoral Ethics training programs lacked an ethics component. Program challenges included “inadequate access to expertise”, “competing curricular demands”, and “pedagogy” (Fleenor et al, 2022).
At one multi-location hospital system, chaplains and ethicists have worked together systemically across the spectrum, offering educational programs to physicians, nurses, social workers, and others. In this session, participants will share their experiences in educating all disciplines, including chaplains in Clinical Pastoral Education and across the clinical spectrum, offering a blueprint for others to expand their local collaborations between chaplains and ethicists.
The panel will address the following objectives:
References
Fleenor, D. W., Cummins, P., Hirschmann, J., & Sharma, V. (2022). Ethics education in clinical pastoral education: prevalence and types. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 28(2), 285–294.
Smith, M. L. (2008///Nov/Dec). Chaplaincy and clinical ethics: A common set of questions. The Hastings Center Report, 38(6), 28-9.
Wirpsa, M. J., Redl, N., Lieberman, K., & Springer, K. (2024). The Expanding Role of United States Healthcare Chaplains in Clinical Ethics. Journal of Religion and Health, 63(6), 4486–4511.
Recent academic studies have highlighted the large number of chaplains who are included in ethics consults, taking advantage of the crossover of skills used by both disciplines. A recent survey of more than 300 chaplains noted that “the majority (61.5%) reported involvement as a member of the ethics committee at their institution, with 31.3% functioning as the Chair or Co-chair of the committee” (Wirpsa et al, 2024). The challenge is assuring that chaplains have additional training necessary to assure their competence in healthcare ethics. A study conducted by Dr. David Fleenor et al (2022) noted that, while three of the Association of Professional Chaplains’ 31 competencies pertain to ethics, 18% of Clinical Pastoral Ethics training programs lacked an ethics component. Program challenges included “inadequate access to expertise”, “competing curricular demands”, and “pedagogy” (Fleenor et al, 2022).
At one multi-location hospital system, chaplains and ethicists have worked together systemically across the spectrum, offering educational programs to physicians, nurses, social workers, and others. In this session, participants will share their experiences in educating all disciplines, including chaplains in Clinical Pastoral Education and across the clinical spectrum, offering a blueprint for others to expand their local collaborations between chaplains and ethicists.
The panel will address the following objectives:
- Identify, recommend, and promote methods useful to chaplains and ethicists in the clinical context from initial CPE training to clinical practice in order to improve health care services to patients and families.
- Discuss the unique roles and contributions for chaplains and ethicists in collaborating towards better patient care, including examples of best practices and new procedures created.
- Consider measures of effectiveness in the collaborative effort, using experiences from a major health care system and independent non-profit in Houston, Texas.
- Identify the forward path for other systems to integrate educational programs that advance ethics understanding for interdisciplinary advancement.
References
Fleenor, D. W., Cummins, P., Hirschmann, J., & Sharma, V. (2022). Ethics education in clinical pastoral education: prevalence and types. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 28(2), 285–294.
Smith, M. L. (2008///Nov/Dec). Chaplaincy and clinical ethics: A common set of questions. The Hastings Center Report, 38(6), 28-9.
Wirpsa, M. J., Redl, N., Lieberman, K., & Springer, K. (2024). The Expanding Role of United States Healthcare Chaplains in Clinical Ethics. Journal of Religion and Health, 63(6), 4486–4511.