AMITA Adventist GlenOaks is using Mission Matters posters as well as decals on computers in patient care areas to increase awareness of the program among physicians and associates, said Alfred Kambaki, director of Spiritual Care and Clinical Pastoral Education.
The Mission Matters program enables physicians and staff to use PerfectServe, a HIPAA-compliant app for clinical communications, to send spiritual-care referrals quickly and easily to chaplains. The program also encourages patients and their families to request a chaplain’s care whenever necessary. AMITA Adventist GlenOaks is adding chaplain contact information to the clinical care whiteboards in patient rooms, as well as in-room signage explaining when it’s appropriate to request a chaplain.
“A chaplain referral can be for spiritual comfort, emotional comfort and/or a referral to the patient’s own faith tradition,” said David de Ramos, DO, president of the AMITA Adventist GlenOaks medical staff. “It is not necessarily a religious referral but it is definitely an extension of our mission. We want our staff and physicians to intentionally help our patients experience our mission and help us enhance patient care and the patient experience by recognizing when a patient is in emotional or spiritual distress and by asking a chaplain to intervene.”
AMITA Adventist GlenOaks is using Mission Matters posters as well as decals on computers in patient care areas to increase awareness of the program among physicians and associates, said Alfred Kambaki, director of Spiritual Care and Clinical Pastoral Education.
de Ramos conceptualized Mission Matters and worked with Kambaki and Mark Bondarenko, senior director, Spiritual Care, to implement the pilot program this past spring. Plans call for measuring and analyzing the program’s impact at AMITA Adventist GlenOaks, and if it’s beneficial, expanding it to AMITA’s three other legacy Adventist hospitals, Kambaki said.
“As a faith-based health system, we need to set ourselves apart from non-faith-based health systems, and this program is a way to enhance the patient experience – and the mission experience – in our hospitals,” de Ramos said.
Julie Busch, associate vice president, Internal Communications, AMITA Health
