The Chaplain’s Role in Pediatric Palliative Care: Mapping Model Programs

Principal Investigators: Nancy Berlinger, The Hastings Center
George Fitchett, Rush University Medical Center

Investigators: Wendy Cadge, Brandeis University
Erin Flanagan-Klygis, Rush University Medical Center

Funder: Texas Children’s Hospital

It is difficult for the nation’s 10,000 chaplains to learn how to assess and improve the quality of the care they provide, including the quality of their work in pediatric palliative care. To fill this research gap and meet this practical need, The Hastings Center and Rush University Medical Center designed and conducted a pilot study to learn about the role of chaplains in well-established pediatric palliative care programs in children’s hospitals in the U.S. The project’s findings were published in the following journal article:  George Fitchett, Kathryn A. Lyndes, Wendy Cadge, Nancy Berlinger, Erin Flanagan, and Jennifer Misasi, “The Role of Professional Chaplains on Pediatric Palliative Care Teams: Perspectives from Physicians and Chaplains,Journal of Palliative Medicine 14, no. 6 (2011).