The National Association of Catholic Chaplains

Menu
  • Membership
      • Apply for Membership
      • Frequently-Asked Questions about Membership
      • Request Retired Membership
      • State Liaisons
      • Newest Members
      • Membership Directory
      • Member map
      • Celebrating Our Members’ 25-year Membership and Certification
      • In Memoriam: deceased NACC members
    • Close
  • Certification
    • Initial Certification
      • Board Certified Chaplain (BCC)
      • Certified Associate Chaplain
      • Palliative Care and Hospice Advanced Certification (PCHAC)
      • VA Initial Board Certification
      • Recognition of Strategic Partners Certification
      • Newly Certified Chaplains
      • Close
    • Renewal of Certification
    • Certification Competencies & Procedures
      • Certification Competencies & Procedures
      • Important Background on NACC Certification Competencies
      • Professional Code of Ethics for Spiritual Care Professionals
      • Certification Commission
      • Certification Appeals Panel
      • Ethics Appeals Panel
      • Close
    • Mentors
    • Recognition of Strategic Partners Certification
    • Verifying Certification
    • Maintaining Certification in Retirement
    • Graduate Theological Programs
    • Close
  • Education Resources
      • 2023 Retreat
      • 2023 Webinar Series
      • Recorded webinars (2009-2022)
      • Calendar of Events
      • Graduate Theological Programs
      • CPE Programs
      • NACC Professional Networking Calls
      • Continuing Education Hour Requests – Guidelines and Forms
      • Ongoing Educational Opportunities
      • Local/Regional Gatherings & Events
      • Past Conferences (2004 – 2022)
      • Vision
    • Close
  • Resources
    • Antiracism Resources
    • Administrator Resources
    • Awareness Resources
    • Chaplaincy Care Resources
    • Coronavirus Resources & Updates
    • Job Listings
    • The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling
    • Partners in Pastoral Care
    • Research
    • Specialty Care Resources
    • Spirituality and Prayer Resources
    • Spiritual Care Department Resources
    • Vision
    • Close
  • About NACC
    • About the NACC
      • Mission/Vision/Values
      • Constitution and ByLaws
      • Strategic Plan
      • History
      • Close
    • Annual Awards
    • Association Leadership
      • NACC Board of Directors
      • Committees, Commissions, and Panels
      • National Office Staff
      • Episcopal Advisory Council
      • Close
    • Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition (CPMC)
    • Choose Chaplaincy
    • Health Care Collaborators
    • NACC Merchandise
    • NACC Publications and Documents
      • Vision
      • NACC Now
      • Annual Reports & Financial Reviews
      • Documents and publications
      • NACC Blog
      • Close
    • Partners in Pastoral Care
    • Partners for Professional Excellence in Spiritual Care
    • Vision
    • Close
  • Choose Chaplaincy
  • Contact Us
      • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    • Close
  • Donate Now
  • Member Login
Home » Vision » March-April 2018 » Chaplains’ skills are suited to the advance directive conversation

Chaplains’ skills are suited to the advance directive conversation

By David Lichter
Executive Director

This issue on advance directives is an important one. Many of our NACC members engage daily in the delicate discussion about preparing now for end-of-life decision-making. How critical our members’ intervention is! We are grateful to all who have a role in this process for patients, residents, and their families. We are grateful to all those who contributed substantive articles to this Vision issue. The theme was chosen to correspond with the 2018 National Health Care Decision Day, which is April 16, as NHDD exists “to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.”

The November-December Health Progress issue on end of life included an article on advance care planning by two physicians who shared some well-known dramatic data on how few Americans have an advance directive. However, an even more significant statement was:

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), advance directives “have had relatively little impact on end-of-life decision-making” and have been disappointingly ineffective. This is because of barriers that are conceptual (general reluctance to explore death and dying), structural (inadequate clinician training, etc.) and procedural (restrictions on who can serve as a health care agent or proxy), notwithstanding the passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 and multiple initiatives to promote their use.

Facilitating an advance directive, they observe, has moved from a legal process of completing a document to a comprehensive communication process with patients and families to ensure the treatment plan aligns with the patient’s and family’s values, beliefs, and wishes.

Have we all tended to this most important task of completing our own advance directive? Is yours up to date?

They further make the point, which chaplains already know, that “conducting effective advance care planning conversations is a skill. Clinician training will need to begin in graduate school and continue during residency and post-graduate training. For more senior clinicians, instruction in advance care planning can be provided through recertification or continuing medical education.”

I suspect that such a curriculum for clinical training would be similar to much that is covered in the first unit of CPE — training that helps one tend to the other and listen deeply for the unarticulated. But listeners must also face their own finitude and end-of-life issues, whether their own or a loved one’s. These are the skills of all of you, who have been professionally prepared to be with the other in his or her vulnerability.

I wonder how many of our members have educated and trained other clinicians in how to conduct advance care planning? It would be interesting to hear from you. I wonder whether it would be worthwhile to convene via conference call those of you who do so, and whether we could offer the clinical community some leading practices in developing the skill?

Another important question: Have we all, whether alone or with family, tended to this most important task of completing our own advance directive, not as a legal document but as an opportunity for communication? Is yours up to date?

I have updated mine a couple of times, most recently when I had my right hip replaced last May. It was good again to sit down with my wife, Jackie, and together to discuss our end-of-life scenarios and complete our review of our advance directive, along with our power of attorney. Please treat yourself to the process, and be kind and thoughtful to your loved ones in doing so.

The National Association of Catholic Chaplains
Become a Member Would you like to get Certified?

Free Publications

Don’t miss the latest news, subscribe to our newsletter today! You don’t have to be a member to subscribe.

National Association of Catholic Chaplains
4915 S. Howell Avenue, Suite 501
Milwaukee, WI 53207
Get Directions

Phone: (414) 483-4898
Fax: (414) 483-6712
Email: info@nacc.org

Our office hours
Mon-Thur 8:00am – 5:00pm Central Time
Friday 8:00am – 12 Noon
Sat-Sun closed

Job Listings

Current job opportunities for chaplains, priests, CPE residents, supervisors, directors of pastoral care, managers, mission directors, and more.

Job Listings

Free Publications

Don’t miss the latest news, subscribe to our newsletter today! You don’t have to be a member to subscribe.

Donate Now

Learn more about making a tax-deductible donation to NACC.

Donate Now

Connect with us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
© 1997 - 2023 National Association of Catholic Chaplains - Sitemap

Built by Westwords