Chaplain

Houston Methodist - Houston, TX

Full-time

Houston, TX

5,001-10,000 employees

Hospitals

About the position

At Houston Methodist, the Chaplain position is responsible for providing spiritual care to meet the spiritual, religious, and emotional needs of Houston Methodist patients and their family members. This position provides spiritual care support for Houston Methodist employees, visitors and physicians and position makes spiritual care visits with patients to conduct initial assessments and for follow-up care. The Chaplain position follows established patient care plans, proactively identifying when a change in approach or intervention is necessary, taking appropriate action and involving others as needed. This position works independently, exercising sound judgment and executing above average critical thinking skills on challenging situations, with the ability to work collaboratively with peers and assists leadership in carrying out the Houston Methodist mission, vision and values, participating in and leading activities in these efforts.

Responsibilities

• Facilitates a supportive and positive environment for Houston Methodist patients, family members, visitors, employees and physicians.
• Assists leadership with planning and carrying out Houston Methodist mission, vision and values.
• Provides spiritual care support to Houston Methodist employees.
• Influences a dynamic, team-focused work unit that helps to achieve optimal department results.
• Collaborates with all members of the patient care team by actively communicating in a positive, supportive, non-judgmental manner.
• Conducts self in a manner that is congruent with cultural humility, diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
• Serves as mentor to CPE students and spiritual care volunteers as assigned.
• Orients and precepts new chaplains, as assigned.
• Exhibits and demonstrates healthy work relationships such as mitigation of conflict, leading problem-solving and resolution efforts.
• Recommends initiatives to improve department scores for employee engagement.
• Provides spiritual care to meet the spiritual, religious, and emotional needs of patients and their family members of all faiths.
• Makes visits with patients to conduct spiritual care assessments, in response to referrals and codes, and for follow-up care.
• Follows established patient care plans, proactively identifying when a change in approach or intervention is necessary.
• Serves as liaison with community clergy, local congregations and denominational groups.
• Utilizes community resources to assist in meeting the spiritual needs of others.
• Serves as the initial point of contact for providing crisis intervention for patients, family members, visitors, employees and physicians.
• Recommends initiatives/activities to meet/exceed department and organization targets for patient satisfaction measures.
• Participates in interprofessional health team rounds; proactively identifies need for intervention and takes action.
• Accurately and thoroughly documents patient visits and spiritual care provided in the patient's record.
• Consults with physicians, clinical management, hospital leadership and staff to assess quality and safety of services provided.
• Identifies opportunities for corrective action and improvement, providing recommendations.
• Self-motivated to independently manage time effectively and prioritize daily tasks.
• Participates in and may plan and lead various department and/or hospital-wide activities.
• Completes and updates the My Development Plan on an ongoing basis.

Requirements

• Master's degree in theology or related studies from an accredited institution.
• Four units of clinical pastoral education (CPE) from an accredited institution.
• Highly prefer experience as a professional chaplain.
• Chaplain - Board Certified Chaplain (BCCI) within 3 years OR Chaplain - Board Certified Chaplain (APC) within 3 years OR CASC(C) - Canadian Assoc for Spiritual Care Certified (CASC) within 3 years OR Chaplain - Associate Professional Chaplain (APC) within 3 years OR Chaplain - Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (ACPE) within 3 years OR Chaplain - Associate Clinical Pastoral Educator (ACPE) within 3 years OR BCC, by other nationally recognized chaplain certifying body.
• Endorsed for chaplaincy by a recognized endorsing body.
• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job.
• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language.
• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers.
• Possesses basic computer knowledge; operates various computer systems to enter and maintain patient documents.
• Ability to work independently; capable of effectively handling challenging/difficult interactions.
• Exhibits strong interpersonal and team player skills with all levels of the healthcare team.
• Adapts to multiple ongoing priorities with minimal supervision.
• Very strong organization skills and detail-oriented nature.
• Professional handling of exposure to confidential/sensitive information.