{"id":9399,"date":"2024-12-10T19:12:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extali.eu\/docs\/gute-hospitalpraxis\/1-kontext-des-krankenhauses\/1-2-patientenorientierung\/1-2-28-krankenhausseelsorge\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:36:06","slug":"1-2-28-hospital-chaplaincy","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/handbuch\/1-kontext-de-krankenhauses\/1-2-patientenorientierung\/1-2-28-krankenhausseelsorge\/","title":{"rendered":"1.2.28 Hospital chaplaincy"},"content":{"rendered":"Text of the VA for download (PDF)<\/a>\n

1 Aim and purpose<\/h1>\nHospital chaplaincy endeavours to provide patients with support and comfort. It aims to help them deal with illness and stress and overcome hopelessness.\n\nHospital chaplains serve people of all faiths. They make no attempt to proselytise. They try to empathise with and understand people from different contexts. Above all, this means listening to the pain and suffering, but also to the joys of life.\n

2 Scope of application<\/h1>\nApplies to the entire KRANKENHAUS\n

3 Description of the procedure<\/h1>\nThe chaplains are available to talk to the patients of the HOSPITAL, their relatives and the staff of the HOSPITAL.\n

3.1 Making contact<\/h2>\n

3.1.1 General information<\/h3>\nThe hospital chaplaincy publicises its services through notices on the wards and in the duty rooms as well as through patient brochures and patient information leaflets, which should be available on the wards.\n

3.1.2 Concrete requirement<\/h3>\nThe hospital chaplaincy can be called by patients, relatives, nursing staff and doctors.\n\nOn weekdays, the hospital chaplaincy can be reached via the answering machine. The private numbers of the chaplains are known to the medical and nursing staff for urgent cases at night and at weekends.\n

3.1.3 Offer to church members<\/h3>\nOn admission, patients are asked about their religion or denomination. Once consent has been given, the hospital's admissions department provides the hospital chaplaincy with the names of patients who are members of the Protestant and Catholic churches. These patients receive a welcome letter from the hospital chaplaincy.\n\nThe same procedure can be followed for members of other religious communities.\n

3.2 Duty of confidentiality<\/h2>\nFull-time and voluntary hospital chaplains are bound by confidentiality and confessional secrecy.\n

3.3 Offers<\/h2>\n

3.3.1 Conversations<\/h3>\nThe topics and the duration of the conversation and the attention are determined by the patients and their relatives.\n

3.3.2 Religious acts<\/h3>\nThe chaplains offer the following rituals, which are performed at the request of the patients or their relatives:\n\nBlessings, prayers, anointing of the sick, communion, baptism, church weddings and blessing of the deceased.\n\nFor rituals of other denominations and religious communities, contact is made with the respective denomination or religious community, insofar as it is represented in the catchment area of the HOSPITAL.\n

3.3.3 Worship service, devotion<\/h3>\nDevotions in the Room of Silence are offered once a month and on request. With the consent of their doctors, patients can attend Sunday services in a nearby church (name, address).\n

3.3.4 Events<\/h3>\nThe hospital chaplains organise events on the wards, such as Advent carols. They liaise with the ward management when doing so.\n

3.3.5 Mediation with other religions\/denominations<\/h3>\nAt the patient's request, contact will be established with another religious community\/denomination.\n

3.4 Networking<\/h2>\n

3.4.1 Pastoral care team<\/h3>\nThe chaplains meet regularly for ecumenical discussions. The areas of responsibility of the chaplains are determined jointly. The chaplains represent each other, taking into account the denominational wishes of the patients.\n

3.4.2 Cooperation with the wards<\/h3>\nIn their area of responsibility, the hospital chaplains seek and maintain contact with nursing staff and doctors.\n

3.4.3 Committee work<\/h3>\nThe hospital chaplains are involved in the committees of the church and the hospital (e.g. ethics committee and ethics council).\n

3.4.4 Public relations<\/h3>\nIn notices on the wards, the hospital chaplains draw attention to the Room of Silence as a place of encounter and meditation as well as to the events.\n

3.4.5 Volunteers in hospital pastoral care<\/h3>\nThe hospital chaplaincy trains and deploys volunteers and supports them through supervision. They are also bound to confidentiality.\n

4 Responsibility, qualification<\/h1>\nThe Evangelical Lutheran Church (state) and the Roman Catholic Church \/ (archdiocese) create and fill positions for full-time hospital chaplains within the scope of their possibilities. The hospital chaplains have an employment and service relationship with their churches.\n\nQualifications for full-time hospital chaplains include a degree in theology and further training in pastoral psychology.\n\nThe hospital chaplains divide the clinics and wards into areas of responsibility; see Appendix 1.\n\nThe HOSPITAL provides the hospital chaplaincy with rooms (quiet room, offices) and work equipment (e.g. telephone connection).\n

5 Documentation<\/h1>\nnone\n

6 Notes and comments<\/h1>\nThe hospital chaplains have an employment and service relationship with their churches.\n

7 Applicable documents<\/h1>\nArt. 140 Basic Law in conjunction with Art. Art 141 WV\n\nState-church treaty for the respective federal state, in some states customary law\n

8 Terms<\/h1>\nnot used\n

9 Systems<\/h1>\nAppendix 1: List of hospital chaplains with areas of responsibility\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text der VA zum Download (PDF) 1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ziel und Zweck Krankenhausseelsorge versucht, den Patientinnen und Patienten Halt, St\u00fctze und Trost zu vermitteln. Sie m\u00f6chte helfen, mit Krankheiten und Belastungen umzugehen sowie Hoffnungslosigkeit zu \u00fcberwinden. Krankenhausseelsorgerinnen und -seelsorger dienen Menschen aller Glaubensrichtungen. Sie machen keinen Versuch zu missionieren. Sie versuchen, sich in Menschen aus unterschiedlichen Kontexten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9325,"menu_order":37,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","doc_tag":[],"doc_badge":[],"class_list":["post-9399","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"author_avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6b2616140d9fcd6a1c5d6d2ebbf43422308c9322c032ef03f88ec3235855dcf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_name":"admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/9399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9399"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/9399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15962,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/9399\/revisions\/15962"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/9325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=9399"},{"taxonomy":"doc_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gutehospitalpraxis.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_badge?post=9399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}