Chaplains A-OK

When it comes to health, physicians are happy for any help they can get, especially when it comes to spirituality.

A national survey published recently in a research letter in the Archives of Internal Medicine indicated the vast majority of doctors are satisfied with services provided by hospital chaplains.

"Religion and spirituality are important resources for coping with serious illnesses, but research indicates that patients' needs in this regard often go unmet," Dr. George Fitchett, the study's lead author and a chaplain himself, said in a news release. "That's why it is important to understand how physicians view chaplains. Doctors play a crucial role in ensuring that patients get access to this kind of care."

Apparently, doctors don't think the needs go unmet too often.

Of the 1,102 physicians whose responses were included in the study, 89 percent had some experience with chaplains. Of those physicians, 90 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with chaplains' services.

Locally, the satisfaction level may be near 100 percent.

Dr. Robert Pesce, director of the Critical Care Medicine Program, chairman of the ethics committee at Memorial Hospital and an intensivist in the hospital's intensive care units, said chaplains there "do a very good job" and that doctors "are very well satisfied" with their work.

"They are very dedicated people," he said. "They do a great job, they spend a lot of time and they're very dedicated to their mission. We couldn't do our job without them being here."

Dr. Mukta Panda, professor and interim chairwoman of the Department of Medicine of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga, said the chaplains program at Erlanger hospital is "a really beneficial service" and part of the holistic care offered patients there.

It's especially important, she said, because "we cater to a very diverse group of patients." In addition, she said, the services are needed and utilized by the physicians and interns outside of their recommendations about patients.

Robert Cox, a chaplain for 24 years overall and nearly 12 years at Memorial, said doctors often call on them regarding end-of-life issues, to help families come to grips with a diagnosis and to help moderate conflicts among family members regarding medical decisions that must be made.

"We have a real good rapport with the doctors," he said. "There are more doctors that use us than don't."

According to the survey, those who were satisfied with spiritual services tended to be physicians who worked in teaching hospitals; practiced medical subspecialties, such as cardiology or oncology, or other specialties, such as emergency medicine or neurology; endorsed the notion religion and spirituality can have a good effect on patients; and believed it is acceptable to pray with a patient if the physician sensed it would be appropriate.

The physicians who believed religion and spirituality had a negative impact on patients were more likely to be dissatisfied with chaplains' services.

Dr. Pesce, Dr. Panda or Mr. Cox said they had never come across such a doctor.

Doctors in the Midwest were more likely to be satisfied with chaplains than physicians in the Northeast, according to the survey. No addition explanation of that finding was given because of limitations in the data collected.