Department Directors' Perceptions of the Roles and Functions of Hospital Chaplains: A National Survey

A national survey of hospital directors of medicine, nursing, social services, and pastoral care was conducted to obtain opinions about the importance of various chaplain roles. On average, directors in all four disciplines rated three of the seven chaplain roles (grief and death, prayer, and emotional support) to be "very" to "extremely" important. Most of the others roles were rated between "moderately" and "very" important (religious services-rituals consultation and advocacy, community liaison-outreach). Several significant differences were found among disciplines, as physicians rated the importance of most chaplains' roles lower than did other disciplines. Overall, there was a tendency for directors in smaller hospitals, especially those with fewer than 100 patients, to place less importance on most of the chaplain roles investigated here.