Patient counseling services: a multidisciplinary department.

Most contemporary urban hospitals in Canada provide social services, pastoral care and psychological services, usually in separate departments. The similarities in many of the services provided by these three professions has often been noted, along with the observation that organizational restructuring could support such collaboration. The Misericordia Hospital, Edmonton, has amalgamated social services, pastoral care, psychological services and the pastoral institute into the Department of Patient Counselling Services. Its main purpose is to allocate more resources to direct patient care and enhance interdisciplinary collaboration.