Position Summary
The Hospice Chaplain/Spiritual Care Provider is a member of the interdisciplinary hospice team and provides compassionate, patient-centered spiritual and emotional support to patients and families facing serious illness, end of life, death, and grief.
Spiritual care is provided in a manner that honors each patient’s individual beliefs, values, culture, traditions, sources of meaning, and preferences. The Chaplain supports individuals of all faith traditions as well as those who identify as spiritual but not religious or who do not identify with a particular faith or belief system.
The Chaplain assesses spiritual needs, strengths, concerns, and resources; develops and implements an individualized spiritual plan of care; collaborates with members of the interdisciplinary team; and connects patients and families with community clergy, faith communities, or other spiritual resources when desired.
The position primarily serves hospice patients and families in homes, nursing facilities, assisted living communities, and other residential settings throughout the organization’s service area. The Chaplain also provides spiritual care to patients and families at the Compassionate Care Center in Richmond, Kentucky.
Position Qualifications
Required Qualifications
- Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Religious Education (MRE), theology, pastoral studies, spiritual care, or a related field; equivalent education and relevant ministry/spiritual care experience may be considered.
- Ordination, commissioning, denominational endorsement, ecclesiastical endorsement, or equivalent recognition appropriate to the candidate’s spiritual care tradition, when applicable.
- Minimum of one year of chaplaincy, pastoral care, spiritual care, hospice, healthcare, or closely related experience preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to provide respectful, inclusive spiritual care to individuals representing diverse religious, spiritual, cultural, and nonreligious perspectives.
- Understanding of hospice philosophy, end-of-life care, grief, loss, and bereavement.
- Ability to assess spiritual needs and translate assessment findings into an individualized plan of care.
- Ability to work collaboratively and effectively as a member of an interdisciplinary team.
- Strong interpersonal, communication, listening, and relationship-building skills with patients, families, healthcare professionals, community clergy, and colleagues.
- Ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and confidentiality.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to complete clinical documentation accurately and within required timeframes.
- Ability to work independently in community-based settings while maintaining effective communication with the interdisciplinary team.
- Current driver’s license and reliable transportation with automobile insurance meeting organizational requirements.
Preferred Qualifications
- Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training or equivalent supervised spiritual care experience.
- Previous hospice, palliative care, healthcare, or bereavement experience.
- Experience providing spiritual care to individuals from diverse religious, cultural, and belief backgrounds.
- Knowledge of trauma-informed, person-centered, and culturally responsive approaches to spiritual care.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Spiritual Assessment and Plan of Care
- Completes timely, comprehensive, and individualized spiritual assessments that identify the patient’s and family’s spiritual beliefs, values, practices, strengths, concerns, sources of meaning, relationships, and desired spiritual support.
- Recognizes spiritual distress, anticipatory grief, existential concerns, loss of meaning or purpose, family conflict, and other issues that may affect the patient’s or family’s end-of-life experience.
- Develops, implements, evaluates, and updates an individualized spiritual plan of care based on identified needs, patient and family preferences, hospice goals, and changes in condition.
- Establishes appropriate visit frequency and interventions based on assessed need, patient/family preference, and the interdisciplinary plan of care.
- Reassesses spiritual needs as the patient’s condition, prognosis, family circumstances, or goals of care change.
Patient and Family Support
- Provides compassionate spiritual and emotional support to patients and families throughout the hospice experience.
- Creates a supportive presence that allows patients and families to explore meaning, hope, fear, grief, relationships, reconciliation, legacy, faith, doubt, and other end-of-life concerns as desired.
- Provides prayer, ritual, scripture, meditation, life review, spiritual counseling, or other interventions when requested and appropriate to the patient’s beliefs and preferences.
- Respects a patient’s or family’s decision to decline chaplain services or religious/spiritual interventions.
- Provides education and support to patients and families regarding anticipatory grief, end-of-life experiences, spiritual concerns, and available resources.
- Supports patients and families during periods of crisis, significant decline, active dying, death, and immediate bereavement.
Interdisciplinary Team Collaboration
- Functions as an active member of the hospice interdisciplinary team and contributes the spiritual-care perspective to the overall plan of care.
- Participates consistently and comes prepared for interdisciplinary team meetings.
- Communicates significant spiritual, emotional, psychosocial, cultural, or family concerns that may affect the patient’s care.
- Collaborates with nurses, physicians, social workers, nursing assistants, bereavement staff, volunteers, and other members of the care team to promote coordinated, patient-centered care.
- Provides continuity of care by communicating changes in patient or family needs promptly to appropriate team members and leadership.
- Participates in care conferences and other clinical discussions when spiritual-care involvement is indicated.
Documentation and Compliance
- Completes clinical documentation accurately, thoroughly, and within established organizational timeframes.
- Ensures documentation clearly reflects assessment findings, interventions provided, patient/family response, progress toward goals, and changes to the spiritual plan of care.
- Maintains documentation consistent with organizational policies, hospice standards, applicable regulatory requirements, and professional standards of spiritual care.
- Protects patient confidentiality and complies with HIPAA and organizational privacy requirements.
Community and Faith-Community Collaboration
- Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with clergy, congregations, faith communities, spiritual organizations, and other community resources.
- With patient or family permission, coordinates with the individual’s clergy, congregation, spiritual leader, or faith community to support continuity of spiritual care.
- Serves as a resource to community clergy and faith leaders regarding hospice philosophy, end-of-life care, grief, and bereavement.
- Respects the role of the patient’s existing spiritual community and avoids replacing established clergy or spiritual relationships unless specifically requested by the patient or family.
Bereavement and Memorial Support
- Collaborates with the bereavement team to identify patients and families who may benefit from additional grief support.
- Provides spiritual and emotional support surrounding death and during the initial bereavement period as appropriate.
- Assists with or facilitates memorial services, remembrance events, rituals, and other services for families and employees as requested.
- Participates in organizational grief and bereavement initiatives as appropriate.
Professional Responsibilities
- Responds to patient, family, team, and organizational needs in a timely, compassionate, and professional manner.
- Maintains appropriate professional boundaries while developing meaningful therapeutic relationships.
- Participates in staff meetings, discipline meetings, education, training, quality-improvement activities, and other organizational initiatives as assigned.
- Maintains professional competence through continuing education and ongoing development in hospice, grief, bereavement, spiritual assessment, ethics, and culturally responsive spiritual care.
- Provides support and consultation to hospice staff experiencing grief, loss, compassion fatigue, or challenging patient-care situations when appropriate.
- Demonstrates flexibility in responding to changing patient census, acuity, location, and organizational needs.
- Performs other duties consistent with the scope and responsibilities of the position.
Physical and Functional Requirements
The physical requirements described below represent those necessary to perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Ability to travel throughout the organization’s service area and provide care in private homes, healthcare facilities, inpatient hospice settings, and other community environments.
- Ability to sit, stand, walk, bend, reach, and use hands for routine job functions.
- Ability to see, hear, speak, and communicate effectively with patients, families, colleagues, and community partners, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Ability to use computers, tablets, mobile devices, and electronic health record systems necessary for documentation and communication.
- Ability to lift and/or move up to 40 pounds using appropriate body mechanics and established safety practices. Certain situations may occasionally require additional physical assistance in accordance with organizational policy.
Work Environment
This position requires regular travel throughout the hospice service area and interaction with patients and families in a variety of settings, including private residences, nursing facilities, assisted living communities, hospitals, and the Compassionate Care Center.
The Chaplain must be comfortable working independently in community settings while remaining closely connected with the interdisciplinary care team.
Our Commitment to Hospice Care
We are a nonprofit, community-based hospice organization committed to providing compassionate, expert end-of-life care. Our work honors the life, dignity, values, choices, and autonomy of each person we serve.
Our services include:
- Compassionate Home Care: Hospice services provided wherever the patient calls home, including private residences, nursing facilities, and assisted living communities.
- Compassionate Care Center: Inpatient hospice care provided in our freestanding hospice facility in Richmond.
- Bereavement Services: Grief support for hospice families before and following the death of their loved one.
- Palliative Care: Supportive care and consultation for individuals living with serious, chronic, or progressive illness.
We value compassionate service, clinical excellence, collaboration, respect, integrity, and the unique contributions each discipline brings to the care of patients and families.
Equal Opportunity
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and providing employment opportunities without discrimination as prohibited by applicable law.
Job Type: Part-time
Pay: $21.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Flexible schedule
- Mileage reimbursement
Work Location: In person
