As we strive to hold each other accountable

By David Lichter, D. Min.
Executive Director

How do we reflect upon and examine our practice, and hold one another accountable in our profession of chaplaincy in acute care beyond our own NACC standards for certification and our Common Standards? The Association of Professional Chaplains with the assistance of other groups of pastoral care givers, including NACC, joined together to create the Standards of Practice for Professional Chaplains in Acute Care (SOP-AC) to use as an important sounding board that we all need to become more closely familiar and conversant with.

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Standards 1 and 2: Assessment and plan seen as tandem aspects of chaplaincy art

By Gordon J. Hilsman, DMin, BCC

Standard 1. Assessment: The chaplain gathers and evaluates relevant data pertinent to the patient’s situation and/or bio-psycho-social-spiritual/religious health.

Three essential components hold up quality assessment like the proverbial three-legged stool: 1) a profound reverence for the process of assessment; 2) competence in establishing rapport; and 3) a conceptual framework for understanding and communicating issues that affect holistic well-being. Assessment fails to find much usefulness when any of them is missing.

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Research abstracts: Examining standards of practice in acute care

By Austine Duru, MDiv, MA, BCC

In this issue of Vision, in lieu of publishing a research article, we present eight research resources in hopes of assisting readers to sample a broad range of research by chaplains and non-chaplain collaborators. Each research resource is related to our current Vision theme, “Accountable in Acute Care: Examining Standards of Practice.” A link to a safe open access site has been included to aid in further detailed reading.

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Of human bonds: A trip to China, Mr. Loy, and the silent treatment

By Sister Frances Smalkowski, CSFN, BCC

Last year, while enjoying a two-week tour of the cultural capitals of China, I was amazed by how at home I felt. Searching my memory for the reasons behind this unexpected state of mind, I suddenly remembered Mr. Loy.

Award-winning history book examines how society has wrestled with cancer

By Marilyn Williams, BCC

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. By Siddhartha Mukherjee.

The author, oncologist and researcher Sidhartha Mukherjee, calls his history of cancer a “biography” because in his own words, it is an “attempt to enter the mind of this immortal illness, to understand its personality, (and) to demystify its behavior.” Yet, in many ways his book may tell us more about the mind and behavior of cancer researchers, oncologists, political activists and policymakers, and indeed all of society. Even Mr. Mukherjee’s personification of cancer is reflective of how cancer is perceived as a cruel and relentless enemy to be defeated regardless of cost or casualties. Mr. Mukherjee also refers to his book, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, as a military history quoting a 19th-century surgeon who called cancer “the emperor of all maladies, the king of terrors.”