Chaplain – Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago – Chicago, IL

Overview:

A chaplain is an integral member of the health care team and provides pastoral and spiritual services to patients, families, and staff. The core functions of pastoral care include: providing pastoral/spiritual care to assist patients and families in coping with illness or hospitalization; providing pastoral interventions and support in times of stress or crisis (new diagnosis, chronic illness or extended hospitalization, medical or family crisis, trauma, code, end-of-life issues, death); helping families address their needs for ritual and worship; and linking families with their own religious groups and spiritual traditions. A chaplain also educates staff regarding services and systems that address the importance of spiritual care in the context of a family’s healthcare experience and addresses spiritual needs as appropriate throughout the hospital.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborates to coordinate service delivery with families and appropriate team members across the continuum. Makes necessary referrals to other team members and/or community resources. Makes pastoral care rounds and visits in assigned clinical areas. Attends patient care rounds in assigned areas.
• Identifies, assesses, and responds to child/family needs; includes in this process (identification, assessment, response) age-specific developmental needs, psychosocial needs, cultural needs, and spiritual needs. Particularly focuses on the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and families. These needs may include but are not limited to: assistance in coping with illness, spiritual/religious resources; ritual/worship; communication with staff regarding spiritual/cultural needs and practices; support in times of special stress or crisis; grief support; and linkage with own religious group or spiritual tradition. Includes the planning and leading of worship or other special services, including memorial services, in the hospital and elsewhere.
• Develops relationships with families that are caring, trusting, reliable, and beneficial. Utilizes these relationships in providing appropriate spiritual care.
• Provides timely and effective intervention for patients and families in emergency/crisis situations such as codes, traumas, deterioration of patent’s health status, as well as other situations deemed emergent by the patient, family, or healthcare team. Offers emotional, spiritual, and grief support to the families of dying and deceased patients and assists these families with necessary hospital protocols.
• Documents in a thorough and timely manner in accordance with professional standards (see assessment/documentation policies).
• Communicates with members of the health care team, through formal and informal means of transmitting information, in order to provide optimal care of patients and families. Communicates through both conveying and responding to pertinent information. Informs health care team of the role of faith community and/or other factors impacting the spiritual and emotional status of a patient and family. Maintains relationships that facilitate teamwork and referrals. Serves as professional liaison with assigned teams.
• Advocates for and addresses the spiritual/psychosocial/developmental needs of the child and family throughout the continuum of care. Participates regularly in the health care team’s interdisciplinary rounds.
• Participates in the team’s group problem-solving and program planning. Provides leadership for the team in the delivery of family services, particularly pastoral care. Advocates for the effective utilization of Family Services. Leads the team and other family service professionals in establishing family services goals for team care delivery.
• Recognizes that response to the customer and the changing environment may involve going beyond the confines of the traditional job description. Maintains an environment that reflects pride and ownership and shows a willingness to care for the surroundings. Creates an impression that reflects pride in job position and person.
• Administrative and project management duties, as assigned. May orient and supervise pastoral care volunteers. May precept pastoral care students. Maintains appropriate records and statistics. Participates in hospital-wide pastoral care intake system. Assists with hospital-wide, in-house pastoral care on-call system as needed. Maintains and enhances pastoral care community resource lists for staff use.
• Performs job functions adhering to service principles with customer service focus of innovation, service excellence and teamwork to provide the highest quality care and service to our patients, families, co-workers and others.

Qualifications:

Education: Master of Divinity or other graduate pastoral care or religion degree or equivalent from a school accredited by the Association of Theological schools or one of the regional Associations of Colleges and Schools; four quarters of clinical pastoral education or equivalent experience.

Certification: Endorsement for ministry by religious group with which chaplain is affiliated (i.e., ordination, denominational endorsement); certification by professional chaplains’ endorsing body (recognized by COMISS); either meets or is actively pursuing requirements for endorsement and certification.

Job Related Experience: Pastoral care experience in acute care setting or with children and their families, or equivalent.

Skills/Knowledge: Ability to think proactively, acts creatively, and takes initiative appropriately. Excellent communication, critical-thinking, and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to work as a part of multiple teams. Spanish language abilities and skills strongly preferred.