The Inaugural Healthcare Chaplaincy -
State of the Science

June 12, 2025 - Bloomington, Minnesota

Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) hosted the inaugural Healthcare Chaplaincy - State of the Science (SOTS) on Thursday, June 12 in conjunction with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) annual conference hosted in Bloomington, MN.

TC is grateful to the presenters for sharing their expertise. TC also wholeheartedly acknowledges our colleague attendees for this one-day event. Last, we extend our gratitude to the APC for their logistical collaboration in helping us make history with this first ever moment in time. Together, we made it a success.

The day's five areas of focus - staff support, chaplain education and development, mapping studies, screening, and spiritual assessment - signified more than an educational opportunity. This SOTS marked a passage for our field from where we have been toward where we are going as we continue to advance spiritual care through research.

Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute

Monday, July 14 - Friday, July 18 - Rush University, Chicago

A few spots remain for this annual opportunity.

Chaplains are invited to apply for the Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute (CRSI). First offered in 2017, the CRSI helps chaplains develop research literacy to understand and apply research critically and introduces them to skills to engage in research and quality improvement projects. The CRSI follows an intensive and interactive format that facilitates networking with faculty and chaplains involved in research. Several hands-on sessions include conducting literature searches, qualitative research activities, and mentored small-group discussions. Participation in CRSI counts toward research-related CE hours of professional chaplaincy organizations. For more info and to apply.

Spiritual Care Management and Leadership Certificate

September 2025 - May 2026

The Transforming Chaplaincy Certificate Program in Spiritual Care Management and Leadership (SCML), a distinctive educational offering at Rush University College of Health Sciences, is an exceptional resource for those aspiring to lead spiritual care programs in healthcare.

Led by experts, it integrates classroom learning, real-world case studies, and experiential activities to equip participants with the skills needed for effective leadership amidst the complexities of healthcare spiritual care. Emphasizing a comprehensive curriculum that covers everything from emotional intelligence to strategic thinking and innovation, this program is designed for current and aspiring spiritual care leaders seeking to enhance their capabilities and impact.

Participants will join a supportive community, engage in reflective practices, and apply what they learn to real-world challenges, preparing them to lead with agility and compassion in the evolving healthcare landscape. For more info and to apply.

Upcoming Webinars

Why Do Cancer Patients of Dharmic Religions Rarely Ask for a Chaplain?

Tuesday, June 24, 3-4 PM (CDT)

Why do patients from Dharmic religions rarely ask for a chaplain? Dr. Rushil Patel and his team raise this question after leading an extensive review of patient records over a four-year period at Memorial Hospital, a dedicated cancer hospital in the Memorial Sloane Kettering system, followed by interviews with both chaplains and patients from Dharmic religions. They discovered that those with cancer of Dharmic religions are less likely to use chaplaincy services. Patient’s unfamiliarity with what a chaplain does, or the patient feeling their faith would not be recognized by the hospital, are just two of the findings from the study.

How comfortable are you providing spiritual care to those of the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain faith? Given that spiritual care has proven to improve the outcomes of our oncology patients, we need to address this shortcoming in our clinical practice.

Join us as we learn from Dr. Patel’s expertise and knowledge, complemented by respondent, Venerable Zhiyun Cai, Zen Buddhist nun and oncology chaplain at Stanford HealthCare in northern California. To register.

The Impact of Chaplaincy Departments on Hospital Patient Experience Scores?

Tuesday, July 29, 12-1 PM (CDT)

Join us for our July webinar featuring Dr. Kelsey White focused on the results of her recent publication described below in Recent Publications. To register.

Upcoming Education
Research Literacy 101

August 20 - September 17

Since 2019, Transforming Chaplaincy has offered Research Literacy 101 to support chaplains learning how to locate, evaluate, and summarize the evidence related to their practice. We'd love to have you join us for the next offering of this course. To learn more as well as register, please click the button below.

Recent Publications

New Publications

Evaluating Your Department’s Spiritual Care Services

How do you know if your spiritual care department is providing high quality spiritual care to the patients, families, and staff that you serve? In 2021-2022, the leaders of the Spiritual Care Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles asked their employees to participate in a survey and focus groups to provide feedback about the Department’s services. Among over 500 staff who responded to the survey, 93% said that the Department’s spiritual/emotional support for patients/visitors was helpful; 74% reported one-on-one spiritual/emotional support for staff was helpful. Read more about this important project in the Open Access article.

Pamela Lazor, Jason Weiner, Alex Lawton, Jonathan Schreiber, Beth L. Muehlhausen & George Fitchett (27 May 2025): Evaluation of spiritual care services at Cedars Sinai hospitals: Employees’ views, Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, DOI: 10.1080/08854726.2025.2506919

The PC-6 Model for Spiritual Assessment in Palliative Care

Research about the PC-6 (formerly PC-7) model for spiritual assessment in palliative care continues. This paper reports on evidence of the validity, reliability, and clinical usefulness of the PC-6 among 110 patients receiving palliative care at one of 3 different health systems. Most of the patients (90%) found the chaplain PC-6 interview helpful and 91% reported the duration of the interview was “just about right.” Many thanks to our colleagues at OSF Healthcare (Peoria, IL), Essentia Health (Duluth, MN) and Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL); their collaboration and dedication to the project made this study possible.

Labuschagne D, Palmer PK, Cole B, Drennan SB, Harry ML, Peñate E, Ulrich KA, Fitchett G. Validity, reliability, and clinical usefulness of the PC-6 model for spiritual assessment in palliative care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2025 May 19:S0885-3924(25)00654-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2025.05.010. Epub ahead of print.

The Impact of Chaplaincy Departments on Hospital Patient Experience Scores

Chaplaincy departments may help improve patient experience and support staff well-being in hospitals. However, there is limited empirical research confirming their organizational impact for acute care settings. This study analyzed national data, from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey and CMS HCAHPS, for adult acute care hospitals from 2015 to 2019. The authors, lead by TC research fellow alum, Kelsey White, sought to determine whether patient experience scores differed between hospitals with and without chaplaincy departments. Findings showed that hospitals with chaplaincy departments had higher overall/global ratings and patients were more likely to recommend the hospital as compared to hospitals without departments. The team took both organizational and environmental factors into consideration in their analyses.

White KB, McClelland LE, Jennings JC, Karimi S, Fitchett G. The Impact of Chaplaincy Departments on Hospital Patient Experience Scores. J Healthc Manag. 2025 May-Jun 01;70(3):220-234. doi: 10.1097/JHM-D-24-00143. Epub 2025 May 9. PMID: 40358111.

New Survey Finds 68% of Physicians Report Experiencing Sacred Moments

This new Open Access article reports on a survey of physicians’ experiences of sacred moments with patients. Sacred moments refer to brief periods of time in which people experience spiritual qualities of transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, interconnectedness, and spiritual emotions. Among the 626 physicians who responded to the question about sacred moments, 68% reported experiencing a sacred moment with a patient; 35% reported experiencing such moments a few times per year; 24% said they experienced them monthly or weekly. More frequent experiences of sacred moments, and, also discussing those experiences with colleagues, were associated with reduced burnout. Chaplains interested in supporting the well-being of physicians and other clinical colleagues might consider facilitating discussions of sacred moments among them. More information can be found at the Sacred Moments Initiative (SMI; https://www.sacredmomentsinitiative.org/). Also look for the March 25, 2025 webinar with Sanjay Saint, MD, the leader of the SMI, on the Transforming Chaplaincy YouTube channel.

Ameling J, Houchens N, Greene MT, Ratz D, Quinn M, Kuhn L, Saint S. Sacred Moment Experiences Among Internal Medicine Physicians. JAMA Network Open. 2025 May 1;8(5):e2513159. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.13159.

Congratulations

Congrats, Beba Tata-Mbeng, Manager of Spiritual Care Services with the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, on your new academic appointment, Assistant Professor of Spiritual Care. Beba is also a Transforming Chaplaincy research fellow alum.

Supporting Partnership Opportunities

If you are interested in discussing supporting partnership opportunities with Transforming Chaplaincy, please contact Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, TC's Assistant Director of Research Development, at caitlin_m_desjardins@rush.edu.

To Support Transforming Chaplaincy

Thank you for engaging with Transforming Chaplaincy as we work together to advance spiritual care through research. We value your support, whether you are a part of one of our research networks, attend webinars, or are on a research team. Please also consider contributing financially by clicking the button below.

Missed a Webinar?

If you were not available to tune into a Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) live broadcast or perhaps you want to see a specific webinar again, check out TC's YouTube channel. Many of you (1.51K) are already TC YouTube channel subscribers and know how this works. When you subscribe, you receive a notification that a new recording is ready for your viewing along with 110+ of our videos. Thank you for whenever you engage TC's content to advance spiritual care through research. Transforming Chaplaincy’s YouTube channel.

Opportunities with the George Washington Institute of Spirituality and Health (GWish)

Advancing Spiritual Care in Everyday Clinical Practice

As part of the GWish Project, they are inviting their second cohort of clinician/chaplain pairs to develop and conduct demonstration projects consisting of interprofessional spiritual care clinical models that can be tested in multiple health settings. Click below to learn more about how to become a GWish Scholar.

19th Annual Art of Presence Healthcare Renewal Retreat, Assisi, Italy - October 2-8 (Registration deadline: July 1)

The annual GWish Art of Presence Retreat offers a sacred space for you to contemplate your own spirituality and deepen your commitment to your call to serve. This retreat is designed for health care practitioners—doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, chaplains—as well as other professionals open to deepening their spiritual lives. All seekers are welcome, regardless of faith, belief system, or culture.

Conference: Out of the Depths’. Contours of Spiritual Care in a Wounded World

October 5-9, 2025 | ICPCC–ECPCC Conference Call | Nijmegen, Netherlands

Out of the Depths famously refers to the biography of Anton Boisen, instigator of the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Movement some one hundred years ago, a movement that has now spread out at centers all over the world. At these locations, professionals in pastoral and spiritual care are being trained and coached to explore their inner world at the service of their spiritual work with patients and clients at various care and church settings. At this centennial, it is good to take stock of the nature of their work. This regards the themes and issues of the patients they address; their counselling methods and techniques; and their training, formation, and supervision practices in pastoral care and education. For More Information: https://www.raadkpv.nl/berichten_volledig&item=13​

​Transforming Chaplaincy: Advancing Spiritual Care Through Research​
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​Vision: We envision a future when chaplaincy is formed, informed, and transformed by evidence-based practice
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​Mission: The mission of Transforming Chaplaincy is to promote evidence-based spiritual care and integrate research into professional practice and education by fostering a culture of inquiry

Our mailing address is:​
Transforming Chaplaincy
Rush University Medical Center
Department of Religion, Health, and Human Values
1653 West Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60612