Chaplain 1 - Spiritual Health & Education

Under the supervision of the Clinical Manager of Spiritual Health and Education, the Chaplain 1 provides spiritual support to patients, visitors and staff members. Uses, as appropriate, a wide range of spiritual care skills, including listening/attending, empathic reflection, conflict resolution/confrontation, crisis management and appropriate use of religious/spiritual resources. Responsible for performing job duties and implementing the mission, vision and goals of the Spiritual Health and Education Department and Tampa General Hospital.

Essential Functions

• Fulfills on-call duty that may include overnight and weekend on-call coverage as assigned
• Provides consistent spiritual care to team members facing personal or professional concerns.
• Assess patient and family spiritual needs and assists families in using their faith in dealing with illness, trauma and stress.
• Provides crisis intervention as necessary; responds to all Code Blue and Trauma Alerts; assists in helping families remain informed of patient’s condition.
• Develops ongoing spiritual relationships on assigned clinical units. Visits patients on assigned areas, special requests and in critical care waiting areas; establishes ongoing ministry relationship with patients and families from previous visits when appropriate.
• Educates and helps patients and families execute Advanced Directives; advises patients on understanding documents related to their healthcare (i.e. Living Wills and Health Care Surrogate).
• Completes bereavement care protocol; supports family using their faith system to cope with death; provides support to the family as appropriate.
• Develops and maintains a working relationship between the Spiritual Health and Education Department and medical staff, nursing staff and other departments.
• Participates in interdisciplinary rounds of assigned service line or patient area.
• Attends to requirements of regulatory agencies by representing the department in assigned patient areas.
• Participates in the orientation of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) residents and interns by making presentations as assigned.
• Plans, provides and maintains a safe environment for patients, staff and families.
• Responds promptly to orders and requests for spiritual care services with special attention to trauma patients and urgent requests within the hospital.
• Formulates goals for ongoing personal and professional development.
• Successful completion of assigned Professional Development Courses (AKTiVe for Team Members, High Reliability Training, Crucial Conversations, etc.).
• Participates in all required Spiritual Health and Education required meetings.

Education Qualifications

• Master’s Degree Divinity
• Master’s Degree Theology

Licenses and Certifications

• Board Certification

Experience Qualifications

• Successful completion of ACPE Internship and Residency.
• Ordination and/or endorsement by an acknowledged ecclesiastical body.
• Board Certification by one of the following approved certifying agencies: Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), National Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC), National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC), and the National Association of Veterans Affairs Chaplains (NAVAC).
• At least one year of clinical experience post-residency within a complex, academic hospital setting required
• Experience working in a multidisciplinary environment.

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrates current knowledge and level of expertise to provide spiritual care to a variety of people, inclusive of multiple elements of cultural and ethnic diversity, social conditions, systems and family issues.
• Demonstrates a range of spiritual care skills including listening/attending, empathic reflection, conflict resolution/confrontation, crisis management and appropriate use of religious/spiritual resources.
• Communication skills necessary to counsel patients, families and team members.
• Ability to be self-supervising and self-motivated.
• Able to integrate knowledge of behavioral science, theology and pastoral identity into spiritual care function.