Rev. Stephen Harding on living out our vocation

‘Making the Case’ for Chaplaincy

I have been a chaplain for over twelve years now. Outside of going to school, it is the longest thing that I have done in my life of 50 years.

In that just under a quarter of my life, I have heard other chaplains make the following complaint more times than I would like: ‘The other team members/the hospital/my denomination do not understand what chaplains do. I have to explain what we do so that my role is understood and I will be accepted as a professional.’

I may be cynical, abrupt, and contentious, but at this point I think that the team members/the hospital/ one’s denomination understand very well what our role is. If they don’t understand us by this time (think Joint Commission), then we have failed in respect to living out our vocation.

In response, I see two paths that support the articulation of our vocation as chaplains: the first is the viscerally experiential path of being visibly seen to be a Chaplain; the other is data-based proof of the value we add to our setting.

On the more immediate experiential level, I believe that our best educational tools are who we are and the outward and visible actions that we take to serve the people in our institutions. When one of our chaplains comes in at 3am to be with a dying patient; when one of our students comes in twice on a Saturday to be with a dying five-year-old and the child’s family; when we minister to the staff after a difficult death; when I bring a grieving father to the funeral home and help him make the arrangements for his teenage son’s burial, others get a glimpse of what we do – and the word travels that the chaplains are a powerful resource.

Inherent in my experiential approach is the confidence I have in my ability based on my experience as chaplain: knowing that I am able to be effective in any situation that may come; knowing what I bring to it, the full range of resources from my tradition and the hospital that are available to me to help resolve it; and the knowledge that what I bring is important and needed. Each of us, in our own way and in our own tradition, brings those same resources.

The other path – data-based proof of the value we add – is more durable and has measurable effects. In terms of ‘making the case’ for chaplaincy, we can articulate our value by quantifying our visits and, more importantly, by measuring the value we add to the hospital’s quality of care. Patient, family and staff satisfaction measurements that mimic the HCAHPS survey can be created and used both as a benchmark and as an evaluation of the service we provide.[1]

Sitting in a room whining doesn’t cut it. Explaining can only be so many empty words. I believe that being a chaplain – whatever that takes and whatever that means to you – is the best way to demonstrate the value of pastoral care, backed up with data that measures the quality and the value we add to our institution.

I believe that chaplains have been given the gifts and responsibilities of leadership and action. For the sake of all those who have been entrusted to us, let us use these gifts wisely, and let us use them well.

Footnote:
[1] For more information please check out the following website for Health Care and Quality Improvement http://www.thehastingscenter.org/research/professional-chaplains-quality-improvement-health-care.asp

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