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Job Title
Clinical Chaplain
Location
Independence
Facility
Business Operations Center
Department
Hc Hospice Field Staff-Center for Connected Care
Job Code
T2100H
Shift
Days + Call
Schedule
8:00am-5:00pm
Job Summary
Job Details
Join the Cleveland Clinic team where you will work alongside passionate caregivers and provide patient-first healthcare. Here, you will receive endless support and appreciation while building a rewarding career with one of the most respected healthcare organizations in the world.
The Clinical Chaplain provides compassionate, patient- and family-centered spiritual care across the community, including hospital-based hospice patients and residential hospice houses. This role involves frequent travel, timely documentation, and phone-based support while offering crisis intervention to patients and families with complex psychosocial and emotional needs. The chaplain collaborates closely with interdisciplinary care teams to support high-risk patients, communicate and assist with discharge planning, educate patients and families on post-acute options, and address freedom of choice and financial concerns. Committed to advocacy and ethical care, this role also supports patients and families in situations involving abuse and adheres to core professional competencies, regulatory standards, and best practices in holistic care.
A caregiver in this role will work Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm with on-call requirements occurring one day a week on-call from 5:00pm to 8:00am and one weekend every 4-5 weeks on a Saturday from 8:00am to Monday at 8:00am. Weekend rotations are required.
A caregiver who excels in this role will:
- Perform and document a Pastoral Care assessment within five working days of initial referral, utilizing interview, observation and other available information.
- Evaluate the patient and family need for immediate attention and appropriate action with each visit.
- Establish a written patient plan of care on primary patients and document intervention within 72 hours of visit.
- Implement and follow the established plan of care with each visit.
- Revise/update patient care plan at each visit/contact based on changes in patient's condition and evaluation of effectiveness of intervention.
- Complete required documentation within specified departmental guidelines, policies and procedures.
- Demonstrate appropriate psychosocial intervention based on assessment data when working with age specific and high risk patient populations.
- Assess and document the patients/families level of knowledge related to the patient's specific spiritual care needs with each visit and interpret the hospice mission, philosophy and policies to patients and families on initial visit and as needed based on specific needs.
- Provide education to meet the patient's spiritual needs as identified by Pastoral Care and/or patient/family/or significant other based on patient's age and developmental status when appropriate.
- Utilize teaching methods that need the age specific need and knowledge level of the patient and family.
- Evaluate and document the effectiveness of the education provided with each visit.
Minimum qualifications for the ideal future caregiver include:
- Satisfactory completion of a minimum of four (4) units of Clinical Pastoral Education.
- Offset: Bachelor's degree, 3 years of ministry experience & satisfactory completion of one (1) or two (2) units of Clinical Pastoral Education with expectation to get four (4) CPEs within two (2) years of hire.
- Credentialing, certification, or eligibility within two (2) years by a certifying organization or certification as an Association of Clinical Pastor Education (ACPE educator)
- Current Basic Life Support (BLS) through American Heart Association (AHA) or American Red Cross
- Valid Ohio Driver’s license upon hire; per policy 8-175 thereafter
- Proof of automobile insurance coverage with $100,000/$300,000 coverage, upon hire; per policy 8-175 thereafter
- One (1) year of ministry experience required
Preferred qualifications for the ideal future caregiver include:
- Master's degree of Divinity or equivalent
- Previous experience in hospice or home care working with the dying
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to sit or stand for extended periods of time.
- Must be able to climb stairs, pull, push and facilitate movement of the patient.
- Must have normal or correctable vision and hearing to be able to hear normal conversations.
Personal Protective Equipment:
- Follows standard precautions using personal protective equipment as required.
The policy of Cleveland Clinic Health System and its system hospitals (Cleveland Clinic Health System) is to provide equal opportunity to all of our caregivers and applicants for employment in our drug free environment. All offers of employment are followed by testing for controlled substances.
Cleveland Clinic Health System administers an influenza prevention program. You will be required to comply with this program, which will include obtaining an influenza vaccination on an annual basis or obtaining an approved exemption.
Decisions concerning employment, transfers and promotions are made upon the basis of the best qualified candidate without regard to color, race, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry, status as a disabled or Vietnam era veteran or any other characteristic protected by law. Information provided on this application may be shared with any Cleveland Clinic Health System facility.
Please review the Equal Employment Opportunity poster.
Cleveland Clinic Health System is pleased to be an equal employment employer: Women / Minorities / Veterans / Individuals with Disabilities