Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs on a systematic look at quality in pastoral care

Professional Chaplains and Health Care Quality Improvement

As chaplains, many of us have, for years, been working to better understand and be integrated into institutional and departmental quality improvement projects. To assist in this endeavor, The Hastings Center has convened a one-year research project in partnership with The HealthCare Chaplaincy and Rush University Medical Center to explore how quality of care is understood within the “professionalizing” profession of chaplaincy; the challenges inherent in defining, measuring, and improving quality in less-standardized areas of health care delivery; and the current and potential role of chaplaincy in improving the quality of health care in the United States.

This project includes an interdisciplinary working group of staff, consultants, and outside experts, and an IRB-approved qualitative research study, consisting of focus groups with professional chaplains in the New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Phoenix areas.

By describing the ethics of quality in health care in terms of chaplaincy, the products of this project will:

- help chaplaincy directors create substantive, ethically sound quality improvement programs for their departments, and contribute to organizational QI efforts;

- help health care administrators better understand the profession of chaplaincy and the current and potential role of the chaplain in the delivery of quality care to patients and their families;

- help professional organizations within chaplaincy, and organizations whose standards and guidelines cover chaplaincy, address the challenge of applying existing measures of quality in health care to this profession.

These products will also contribute to the still-small body of empirical research on chaplains and chaplaincy, and will identify opportunities for further research and education.

Planned products include:
• A peer-reviewed article analyzing current quality standards relevant to chaplaincy
• A peer-reviewed article on the project’s empirical findings
• A final report, with ethical analysis and recommendations

Audiences for this project include:
• Senior health care administrators
• Chaplaincy directors, staff chaplains, and professional organizations in chaplaincy
• Health policy scholars, professionals, and organizations

A website has been established to enable all interested in this project to follow the progress. Go to http://www.thehastingscenter.org/research/professional-chaplains-quality-improvement-health-care.asp to stay up-to-date on where we are with this research project.

Periodic updates will also appear in PlainViews.

Do you have thoughts about advocacy you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.