Jeuland Jane, Fitchett George, Schulman-Green Dena, Kapo Jennifer
1 Department of Spiritual Care, Yale-New Haven Hospital , New Haven, Connecticut.
2 Religion, Health, and Human Values, Rush University Medical Center , Chicago, Illinois.
J Palliat Med. 2017 May;20(5):502-508. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2016.0308. Epub 2017 Feb 1.
Palliative care (PC) programs utilize chaplains to address patients' spiritual care needs; however, there is no comprehensive description of chaplaincy in PC programs nationally.
To describe chaplains working in PC across the United States, including their integration on the PC team and visit content.
National online survey conducted February-April 2015.
We invited participation from hospital-based chaplains belonging to four national professional chaplain associations who spent 15% or more of their working hours with PC teams. Measure(s): We developed a 41-item survey to investigate main outcomes of chaplain demographics, practice information, integration into the PC team, and visit content.
531 valid responses were received. We report on respondents who were full-time chaplains (n = 382). Almost half were women (46%), and the majority was Protestant (70%). The average number of PC patients seen per day was 5.2 (SD = 3.5, range 1-30). Half (52%) reported frequently participating in PC rounds. Primary chaplain activities were relationship building (76%), care at the time of death (69%), and helping patients with existential issues or spiritual distress (49%). Over half (55%) reported addressing goals of care 60% of the time or more.
This survey provides the first description of chaplains working in PC across the United States. We describe chaplains' critical role in attending to relationship building, care for the dying, and goals of care conversations. Our results highlight how the chaplains' level of involvement in PC affects the content of their visits. Our study suggests that when chaplains are more involved in PC teams, they provide more comprehensive support to PC patients and their families.
姑息治疗（PC）项目利用牧师来满足患者的精神关怀需求；然而，目前尚无关于全国范围内姑息治疗项目中牧师工作的全面描述。
描述在美国从事姑息治疗工作的牧师，包括他们在姑息治疗团队中的融入情况以及探访内容。
2015年2月至4月进行的全国在线调查。
我们邀请了隶属于四个全国性专业牧师协会、将15%或更多工作时间用于姑息治疗团队的医院牧师参与调查。测量方法：我们编制了一份包含41个条目的调查问卷，以调查牧师的人口统计学特征、实践信息、在姑息治疗团队中的融入情况以及探访内容等主要结果。
共收到531份有效回复。我们报告了全职牧师（n = 382）的情况。近一半是女性（46%），大多数是新教徒（70%）。每天见到的姑息治疗患者平均数量为5.2（标准差 = 3.5，范围1 - 30）。一半（52%）的人报告经常参与姑息治疗查房。牧师的主要活动包括建立关系（76%）、临终关怀（69%）以及帮助患者解决生存问题或精神困扰（49%）。超过一半（55%）的人报告60%或更多时间会讨论护理目标。
本次调查首次描述了在美国从事姑息治疗工作的牧师情况。我们描述了牧师在建立关系、临终关怀以及护理目标对话方面的关键作用。我们的结果凸显了牧师在姑息治疗中的参与程度如何影响他们的探访内容。我们的研究表明，当牧师更多地参与姑息治疗团队时，他们会为姑息治疗患者及其家属提供更全面的支持。
