OL 5

5 Foster a collaborative relationship with community clergy and faith-group leaders.

The final competency is OL 5 and it asks how you collaborate with local clergy and faith group leaders. In my context, we frequently work with local clergy. Our department owes a lot to them for its founding and funding many years ago. That close connection continues to this day through meetings with local faith group leaders a handful of times throughout the year. We have hosted a few of these meetings in our building.

Beyond this, we have a good list of clergy contacts for the town. Some hospitals have had detailed contracts about how and when chaplains should contact clergy but we do not have those standards in place. The chaplain is a liaison for their care recipients. When they need a specific religious practice performed then I help connect to two parties. We coordinate with local ministers of care from the Catholic church who can visit the hospital and give communion to patients.

If your institute is the preferred hospital of choice for any military bases nearby there is also a chance to connect with that base’s chaplain, when possible, too. While this competency is about fostering collaborative relationships the chaplain should not forget the other four competencies in favor of this one. For example, patient location is HIPPA protected. If a church office calls to ask if so-and-so is at your hospital, you cannot give that information out without permission. In many cases, it is best to have the patient or family contact their faith group unless they give clear permission to you. This competency is another example of how chaplains need to juggle multiple relationships at the same time.