Doctor, Patient, Chaplain: Intersections of Spirituality & Medicine

Catalog description

Students are paired with a staff chaplain and will shadow them as they go on rounds and/or respond to crisis calls. Students will observe chaplains providing pastoral care in situations of grief, crisis, bad news, decision-making, etc. Students will be asked to reflect on their experiences and assigned materials to discuss the relationship between spirituality and medical practice. Among the topics to be explored are: a biopsychosocial-spiritual model of care; narrative medicine; clinical empathy and the art of presence; patients' use of symbolic language; spiritual history and spiritual assessment; prayer and healing; role boundaries; cultural/spiritual diversity; etc.