Chaplain Clinical Contact Narrative Instructions

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  • Two (2) chaplain clinical contact narratives are required.
  • At least one (1) must be from the chaplain’s current work setting and from within twelve (12) months of submitting the application. The other narrative must be from within twenty-four (24) months of submitting the application.
  • Each part of the clinical contact narrative will have a character count requirement listed in each section. Character counts include spaces and punctuation. Please note: any blank spaces at the end of each part will not be considered part of the character count when your application is reviewed and will be returned to you for revisions.
  • The narratives cannot contain web links to outside materials/sources. Any content that is linked to an outside source will not be accepted and will be returned for revisions.
  • The narratives should demonstrate the applicant’s current level of functioning and provide descriptive examples of his or her professional competency. These narratives differ from the foci of many educational/CPE settings in that they are not to focus on the chaplain’s learning experience and personal growth.
  • The chaplain is encouraged to relate encounters that suggest respect for diversity and difference (e.g., care for a patient from a different faith tradition), as per competency PPS3.
  • Each narrative must explicitly demonstrate at least these three competencies:

ITP2: Provide spiritual care that incorporates a working knowledge of an academic discipline that is not explicitly religious/ spiritual (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, history). Demonstrate this with an analysis (in Part 3 below).

PPS10: Make and use spiritual assessments to inform chaplain interventions and contribute to interdisciplinary plans of care. Demonstrate this with a spiritual assessment (in Part 4 below).

PPS11: Document one’s spiritual care accurately, cautiously, and usefully and in the appropriate records. Provide an example of patient-record charting. This may be a printout of an electronic medical record with all the identifying information removed or it may simply be what the chaplain would have written in the medical record. Please be mindful of HIPAA regulations. All information sent must be de-identified in accordance with the requirements found in 45 CFR 164.514. Information that must be de-identified is on the second page of this document. Applications sent with HIPAA violations will be returned to the candidate, who must wait for the next application deadline before resubmitting an application.

  • Other competencies may also be demonstrated in the clinical contact and analysis. In the word-for-word encounter (Part 2 below), clearly identify where the competency is being addressed. Then, in the analysis (Part 6 below), elaborate on how it is demonstrated. For example: To demonstrate PPS5, the chaplain clinical contact (Part 2) would include spiritual care for a grieving person, noting “PPS5” in the margins or parentheses at the most salient moment(s) of such care, and the analysis (Part 6) would discuss how the chaplain’s intervention at that moment provided effective support.

The chaplain is encouraged to review the narratives with a mentor before submission.

Format of Chaplain Clinical Contact Narrative:

Part 1:  Context, known facts, and personal observations

            Response length must be between 1000 and 3500 characters.

Part 2:  Encounter, word for word

            Response length must be between 1000 and 20000 characters.

Recount the chaplain clinical contact verbatim.

Clearly note evidence of each competency that will be discussed below in Part 6, by recording the competency number (e.g., “PPS5”) in the margins or parentheses.

Part 3: Required analysis of chaplain clinical contact

            Response length must be between 1000 and 6000 characters.

Clearly identify how competency ITP2 is met.

Also include self-evaluation, theological reflection, and identified ethical considerations.

Part 4: Spiritual assessment (PPS10)

            Response length must be between 1000 and 3500 characters.

Part 5: Documentation (chart note) (PPS11)

            Response length must not exceed 3200 characters.

Part 6: Further analysis in terms of additional competencies (Required as of April 2023)

            Response length must be between 500 and 3200 characters.

A requirement with each of the two chaplain clinical contact narratives is to demonstrate PPS11: Document one’s spiritual care accurately, cautiously, and usefully and in the appropriate records. The cover sheet indicates that the chaplain should provide an example of patient-record charting. This may be a printout of an electronic medical record with all of the identifying information removed or it may simply be what the chaplain would have written in the medical record. BCCI certification interview committees are using this information to determine if the competency is met, and the chaplain can effectively use documentation. It is not to verify that the verbatim is within the needed dates or about an actual patient.

Names and birthdates are only two (2) of the eighteen (18) identifiers of the individual—or of relatives, employers, or household members of the individual—which must not be used in the narratives or the PPS11 example. It is this list of identifiers that BCCI uses to check for HIPAA violations.

  1. Names (Both first and last)
  2. All geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, including a street address, city, county, precinct, zip code, and their equivalent geocodes, except for the initial three digits of a zip code if, according to the current publicly available data from the Bureau of Census, (a) the geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same initial digits contains more than 20,000 people, and (b) the initial three digits of a zip code for all such geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people are changed to 000
  3. All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, and date of death; and all ages over 89 and all elements of date (including year) indicative of such age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated into a single category of age 90 or over
  4. Telephone numbers
  5. Fax numbers
  6. E-mail addresses
  7. Social Security numbers
  8. Medical record numbers
  9. Health plan beneficiary numbers
  10. Account numbers
  11. Certificate/license numbers
  12. Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers
  13. Device identifiers and serial numbers
  14. Web Universal Resource Locators
  15. Internet Protocol addresses
  16. Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints
  17. Full-face photographic images and any comparable images
  18. Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code (including a patient identifying/record number)

It is important that all of the listed identifiers be removed, and that no parts or derivatives of any of the aforementioned identifiers are left in the information submitted with a chaplain’s certification application

Becoming Certified