What is the place of a chaplain in medical care? How does chaplaincy fit into the psychological and physical spectrum of care in a medical setting? What words might more effectively express the need for chaplaincy involvement? What is the global goal of chaplaincy involvement, whether working with a patient of one's own religion, other religions, or those with no religious focus? How can a deeply religious chaplain effectively and honestly work with non-religious patients and/or family to provide a needed value?
These questions are explored in depth in Chaplain Skanse’s new book, A Chaplain’s Expertise: The New Paradigm. In it, Chaplain Skanse seeks to develop a simpler, universal language to talk about spiritual care.
Much is said about being spiritual and touching another person's life spiritually. What this means and how one actually does this in the crisis of medical uncertainty, without stepping on the autonomy of another person and/or their family, is explored with this new paradigm. Chaplain Skanse seeks to simplify the language of chaplaincy into a functional common language that allows patients, their families, the medical team, hospital administrators and even society at large to understand and converse with the chaplain.
This language creates a more unified and effective response to the questions of what chaplains do beyond their own religious or denominational offerings and how can they speak about their value to everyone involved in the trauma of medical need.
Whether one is exploring the field of chaplaincy for the first time or has worked in chaplaincy for a many years, this new perspective provides a framework from which everyone on the medical team can begin their evaluation with common goals for spiritual care.
