Case Study 18 : CHAPLAINCY AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Challenges
Due to the demands of her assignments in the department, complicated by some family problems, a health care professional feels a need for support in her personal life. An encouraging colleague and close friend asks her if she tried approaching the Hospital Chaplaincy. She replies that the Chaplaincy serves only the patients, and they might lack extra time for her.
Question
Is she correct in saying that the Hospital Chaplaincy serves only the patients?
Solutions
The Chaplaincy responds to the needs not only of the patients and their families, but also the hospital’s administrative and medical staff, and of all auxiliary personnel.
Just like other persons, health care professionals benefit from help, whether to maintain their enthusiasm and dedication in caring for patients, or in coping with the demands of family or social life. Others seek assistance facing challenges brought about by routine, fatigue, misunderstandings, constant contact with suffering and death, and other manifestations of human limitation.
Another consideration: the quality of services rendered to the patients depends on the staff members’ personal and interpersonal situations. This is true, despite attempts to separate personal concerns from professional actions.
Strictly speaking, while Chaplaincy members train specially to offer spiritual and ethical services, such domains are not exclusively theirs. Health care professionals themselves, even in their personal capacity, may extend ethical or spiritual support to their colleagues and to the patients and their families. The Chaplaincy could assist them in these endeavors.
