Tailoring pattern of pastoral care. Five models for achieving quality.

Facilities can restructure pastoral care delivery in a number of ways without sacrificing quality. Five models for pastoral care services attempt to define and evaluate what "quality" in pastoral services means: The departmental model offers a formal pattern of defined relationships within the pastoral care department and requires a certified director and properly trained and certified staff. The shared services model provides for one pastoral care director serving several facilities in close proximity. A pastoral services advisory council, consisting of community members, identifies and recruits pastoral care staff, participates in program development and implementation, and creates appropriate models of evaluation. In the contractual services model, members of local churches or organizations with trained ministers contract to provide pastoral care. The pedagogical model employs either a certified clinical pastoral education supervisor or a trained pastoral professional who educates and supervises pastoral care staff and students. The model of pastoral care delivery must fit a particular facility or community's needs and finances, with an honest, fair, and qualitative assessment of a facility's pastoral care strengths and weaknesses together with an acknowledgement and realization of pastoral care trends.