Kia ora koutou,

I’ve read a couple of papers recently that highlight the importance, usefulness, value and care that healthcare chaplaincy offers that no other healthcare profession can do. As I’ve noted on this site before, we underpay them, they are poorly resourced, and they could be much better integrated into our health systems, to the benefit of patients, whanau and staff. As one of these papers notes:

“Our findings suggest that: (1) Chaplains should attempt to work with all patients, even those who do not express strong religious or spiritual views in advance, (2) there is value to including chaplains as a full member of typical care team, and (3) there are observable and consistent characteristics of chaplains and their style of interaction with patients (and physicians) that contribute to their effectiveness.”

This is an American study, but the ideas are transferable and I think affirms the need for further research in NZ; where a full review of how we do spiritual care into the 21st century is due.

cheers

Richard