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Centura Chaplains
We're chaplains who work for Centura Healthcare, a collection of Seventh-day Adventist and Catholic hospitals in Colorado. About two years ago we set out on a journey we would not have predicted would take us in the direction it has.
We began with a small group with the intent of preparing for the inevitable introduction of electronic medical record keeping (Meditech) which was coming to our hospitals. The challenge posed to us was, "How would we like to design a 'Spiritual Assessment' intervention that would be applicable for both the Adventist and Catholic Hospitals. We didn't think it would be that difficult, after all, we're all providing spiritual care.
Not far into the project we realized that to be successful we'd need to step back and better understand how we provided spiritual care, or how we "did chaplaincy" in our hospitals. How would we move from "the mystery of caring for the soul" to the world of electronic medical record keeping and evidence based medicine without losing the effectiveness and spirit lead work of "the mystery of caring for the soul." Could we take just a bit of the "mystery" out without losing the soul care?
Our journey and learning began with monthly meetings of the directors of Spiritual Care for each hospital. We realized that to be successful we'd need to quantify what we do. What a struggle! Out of this process came our concept of "Full Circle Spiritual Care". In creating this approach we're indebted to many individuals (we'll try to acknowledge them when we outline "Full Circle Spiritual Care" later.
Additionally we began to ask, "How does a chaplain spend their time?" Or to put it another way, "What is important about what we do?" And so began our Data Collection.
We're learning and welcome your thoughts and ideas. Join the journey with us, help us learn, become more adept at understanding "our mystery" and challenge us to always remain true to our calling. Jump on our blog and become a part of something exciting.