August 8, 2005 Religious Beliefs Aside, the Chaplain has a Unique Role in Care at Regions August 8, 2005 St. Paul, Minn. -- As the director of Chaplaincy Services at Regions Hospital, Rob Ruff has grown accustomed to providing spiritual care and support in a busy acute-care hospital filled with state-of-the-art technology and complex medical jargon, where there is seemingly no room for something as intangible as spirituality. However, when the east metro's first inpatient palliative care team was created, Ruff found himself contributing to a new model of care that combines the viewpoints of a physician, a nurse, a social worker and a chaplain todetermine the best treatment plan for patients with a debilitating or chronic illness. The "team" in palliative care is essential in painting a more comprehensive picture of the patient, with each member responsible for assessing the patient from a different viewpoint. "Many times, the documentation of a doctors social history of a patient is limited to smoker or nonsmoker," Ruff explains. "To me, this fails to take into account the heart of who our patients really are their demeanor, their purpose and how they may want to deal with their illness. The chaplain can be helpful in filling in some of those holes." The most important part of the team dynamic in palliative care is that the patient be at the center of all treatment-related decisions. Whereas medicine alone attempts to fight illness, palliative care seeks to equip the patient with the tools to live a meaningful and purposeful life in any stage of a chronic or life-threatening illness. In a typical patient care visit, the chaplain tries to answer several questions: what helps this person cope with illness, what gives this person hope, and how can the chaplain help this personto live meaningfully? "As a chaplain, I'm not there to bear judgment," Ruff says. "Some people live out their spirituality in religious ways, others don't. My role is to meet the patients where they are at, let them take the lead in determining their care, and to encourage them in pursuing whatever it is that gives them hope." For more information about Regions' palliative care program or to request an interview with a Regions Hospital physician or chaplain, contact the media pager at 651-629-0411. Regions Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center and teaching hospital serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin for more than 130 years. Regions is a premier, full-service, private hospital providing outstanding medical and surgical care with special programs in heart, women's care,cancer, orthopedics, neurology, burn and emergency care. The hospital is part of theHealthPartners family of health care organizations. Additional information is available at www.regionshospital.com. Contact: Sarah Schock (651) 254-4730 (651) 629-0411 pager |
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