Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities & Bioethics program presents

A Montgomery Lecture

with

M. Jeanne Wirpsa, MA, BCC
Program Manager & Clinical Ethicist, Medical Ethics Program
Chaplain, Spiritual Care & Education
Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Integrating Healthcare Chaplains into Shared Decision Making

A cornerstone of patient-centered care is shared decision making (SDM) which pairs the expertise of medical providers with the values, beliefs, and goals of the patient. The majority of studies on SDM focus on the physician-patient dyad, with some attention to the role of nurses. Scant research has been conducted on the roles played by other members of the interdisciplinary team.

This talk will present original research on the role of healthcare chaplains in SDM. Findings suggest that chaplains are positioned to address three barriers to SDM identified in the literature: 1) The lack of attention to religion/spirituality by other members of the healthcare team; 2) The lack of attention to the patient’s story and values embedded therein; and 3) Medical culture’s fast pace, fragmented doctor-patient relationship, and obfuscating use of medical jargon.