Use of the chaplaincy in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The hospital chaplain is a relatively new member of the health care team, and there is little objective information on the chaplaincy's role in the hospital. To evaluate the chaplain's role, I collected information from the chaplain's daily logs and from a medical staff/parent questionnaire on the use of the chaplaincy in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Both the medical/nursing staff and the chaplains viewed the chaplain's role as encompassing both traditional (religious functionary) and nontraditional functions. However, the medical/nursing staff consulted chaplains only for traditional roles. The discrepancy in chaplain use suggests a need for objective study about the chaplain's role. I offer hypotheses for testing the role of the chaplaincy in the NICU.