Chaplains continue to respond to an issue of great importance

Continuing Responses to the Spirituality/Medicine Interface Program

Editor’s note: As with the last issue, we have chosen to include the continuing responses to Dr. Hamdy’s article, “Spirituality and Medicine” that appeared in the June 21 issue of PlainViews (Education & Research,Vol. 3, No. 10). These responses continue to raise this issue that is of great importance to the chaplaincy profession. PlainViews encourages chaplains to write and participate in raising the level of professionalism, awareness and understanding with other disciplines that interact with chaplains. Therefore, the decision was made to again include these comments in place of an article.

I read the responses of Susan Wintz and Mark LaRocca-Pitts to Dr. Ronald Hamdy's invitation for chaplains to attend an upcoming conference that promotes dialogue between those who practice medicine as their primary area of expertise and those who provide spiritual care as their vocation. I checked the website that provided details regarding the curriculum and faculty and laud the efforts of the Southern Medical Association in sponsoring this event.

However, I share the concerns of my peers that none of the faculty are trained providers of spiritual care at the bedside. The conference outline includes case studies that will include discussions that are led by physicians. Chaplains will be invited, per Dr. Hamdy, to "establish their claims and correct any misconception." Yet, the whole paradigm sets up the physician's perspective as normative and the chaplain's perspective as corrective or offered as a contribution from the floor (rather than a core starting point). Regrettably, the SMA leadership wants a "dialogue" but it does not appear to be founded on seeing professional chaplains as equal partners in this process. The lack of theologically trained board certified chaplains among the faculty, but instead sitting among the assembled participants, sends a symbolic message about our not being viewed as colleagues in the healing process. The case studies especially could have benefited from an experienced chaplain, who has a focus in medical ethics, leading the discussion alongside a physician. Such a partnership would demonstrate the reality that a good physician, upon recognition of a pivotal spiritual or religious concern, would make a referral to a qualified chaplain...just as he or she, upon noting a significant respiratory problem, would call upon a pulmonologist consult.

I also have a small concern that the conference has an overriding goal for physicians "to integrate spirituality in the day-to-day management of patients and disease." The risk here is that a physician may bring his or her own spirituality to bear on the patient's condition, or attempt to respond to a patient's spiritual needs without the appropriate level of training to do so effectively. I applaud the desire to increase sensitivity to the patient's spiritual needs, yet wonder if we are asking physicians to move outside of their area of expertise if asking them to personally address these concerns when they arise.

To be fair to Dr. Hamdy, this is a physician sponsored event rather than a joint effort. Perhaps we should consider this a welcome forum for educating physicians about the spiritual needs of patients. The presence of board certified chaplains as participants at the event will go a long way in educating attending physicians about our expertise and value in addressing the spiritual needs of their patients. I hope that the APC will consider having a booth, alongside The Healthcare Chaplaincy and ACPE, so that we can seize an opportunity to educate, dialogue, and contribute to this event. Perhaps the next event will include a BCC as faculty due to our contributions as participants this year.

Alex Chamberlain, BCC
Staff Chaplain
St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center
Meridian, Idaho

After reading these responses, I looked at the program too. I was surprised to see a conference with all white male presenters. Especially in the chaplaincy field which has emphasized diversity. Also as other writers have noted, it seems to be specifically Christian as is Dr. Koenig.

Bob Keim, Chaplain
Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center
3301 - 7th Avenue No.
Anoka, MN

I read with great interest the comments made in the Advocacy section of PlainViews Vol. 3 No. 11. While much progress has been made, it is apparent that there is a long way yet to go, in respect to incorporating the services of professional board certified chaplains in a truly interdisciplinary health care environment. I would have hoped that Dr. Hamdy would have heard Rev. Wintz's assertion that the conference in question falls short of encouraging dialogue when board certified chaplains are not included among the faculty. I am especially concerned by his comment, "Rather than having 'professional chaplains' discuss what they may have to offer, it was felt to be of greater impact if these comments were made by the consumer, i.e., the physician who has witnessed, utilized, worked with, and come to appreciate the value of the 'professional chaplain.'"

While I do not presume to speak for Rev. Wintz, I am familiar enough with what she has contributed to the growth of professional chaplaincy to know that she is not proposing an either/or scenario which calls for a faculty made up solely of board certified chaplains, but rather a scenario that includes board certified chaplains among the faculty. As for Dr. Hamdy's assertion that the conference content would have "greater impact" with a faculty made up entirely of physicians, I respectfully and adamantly disagree. In my view, the participant is far more likely to be influenced by seeing physicians and chaplains interact around a single topic. I hope that Dr. Hamdy and others, who plan for such conferences in the future, will not take the feedback from Rev. Wintz as "disappointing," but rather as an encouragement to include professional board certified chaplains as faculty for such conferences.

Mark Pruitt, M.Div., BCC
Staff Chaplain
Department of Pastoral Care
Centra Health
Lynchburg, VA

As a hospice chaplain, I, too, was excited to read about the Medicine/Spirituality conference at Emory University. However, as soon as I saw the list of presenters, I concluded this was a physical medicine conference, not inclusive of chaplains. I quickly crossed it off my list of educational opportunities to consider attending. Dr. Hamdy denies this is so; perhaps the descriptive material lacks the information needed to convey to chaplains that their field and concerns are integral to the conference.

The Reverend Judith K. Lund, Chaplain
St. Mary's Hospice
Rogers, Arkansas

It was interesting reading Chaplain Wintz's and Dr. LaRocca-Pitts' response to the article by Dr. Hamdy. I would agree that his pitch was to get as many people to the conference as possible. Any good Conference Chair would do the same. While I share some of the same concerns that both Chaplain Wintz and Dr. LaRocca-Pitts has, namely nomenclature and lack of "front-line" expertise, one of my concerns is that all of the faculty is of one gender - male. In addition, I felt that Dr. Hamdy response to Chaplain Wintz and Dr. LaRocca-Pitts was some what pious by providing instruction to us that we have to "blunt our sensitivities" so that dialogue can happen. Frankly, I felt that Chaplain Wintz and Dr. LaRocca-Pitts were not trying to "blunt our sensitivities" but sharpen sensitivities toward a greater inclusive voice.

I hope to attend this conference, but I admit that I go with a jaundiced ear, it appears that the faculty all have outstanding credentials in research and administration, but I don't know any of that have spent half the night holding a patient's hand, or been with a family who is making the decision to withdrawal "life-support" in hopes of a new life beyond this earthen vessel.

D. James Stapleford, D. Min., MBA
Director of Spiritual Care and Education
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital
Albany, GA

I find Dr. Hamdy's response statements ring with a tone of superiority that offsets his intentions. It also shows how little he grasps the spiritual realm that chaplains often find themselves. I think the intention of such a conference good but it seeks to establish a top down (physician superiority) mind set instead of an equality focus that can be more productive.

Rev. Jeffrey Wilkinson, Chaplain
Guthrie Hospice
Towanda, PA

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