Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project

Best Practices in Professional Pastoral Care

Authors: George F. Handzo, MDiv, MA

Abstract

Consensus is developing in the field of professional pastoral care around the several best practices. The discipline is becoming a multi-faith, referral service. Generally, it is no longer the case that particular clergy come in and visit all of the patients of their faith tradition. This model does not make efficient use of pastoral care resources and does not promote integration into the health care team which is so essential to the continuity of care and quality practice. In current best practice, chaplains are assigned to specific locations, generally selected for their strategic importance to the institution, and visit patients of all faiths selected according to specific protocols.

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