Reading Room

Welcome to the APC Reading Room, where you can find a wealth of important documents, articles and research in the field of professional chaplaincy. If you would like to add to this page your own written submission or a link to a published resource that you believe would benefit this professional community, please use the Chaplain Resource Submission Form linked below.

Chaplaincy Care Resources & Publications

Chaplaincy Department Resources

Common Standards for Certification & Ethics

Complementary Spiritual Practices (PDF)

Cultural and Spiritual Competency

Faith Tradition Resources

Health Care Chaplaincy

Health Care Ethics

HIPAA and Pastoral Care

Religion and Health

Research/Studies

Spiritual Assessment and Chaplaincy Care Documentation

Spiritual Care of the Nonreligious

Standards of Practice for Professional Chaplains

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Chaplaincy Care Department Resources

• Chaplain to Patient Ratios: “Staffing for Quality Chaplaincy Care Services: A Position Paper of the APC Commission on Quality in Pastoral Services” (PDF)
• Chaplaincy Certification Standards as a Curriculum Resource in Clinical Pastoral Education (PDF)
• Code Lavender: A Tool for Staff Support (PDF)
• Describing and Distinguishing Our Work [“chaplaincy care” vs. “spiritual” or “pastoral” care] (PDF)
• Focus on Competence Instead of Learning (PDF)
• Integrating the Patient and Caregiver Voice into Serious Illness Care
• Joint Commission 2011 Review Crosswalk for Chaplain Services 
• Joint Commission monograph, Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals
• Prayer for Staff Meeting submitted by Robert Stanley, BCC
• Standards of Practice for Professional Chaplains
• Starting A Chaplaincy Department

Cultural and Spiritual Competency

• Cultural and Spiritual Sensitivities

Health Care Chaplaincy

• Professional Chaplaincy: Its Role and Importance in Healthcare
  The whitepaper edited by Larry VandeCreek DMin and Laurel Burton ThD. Researched and produced by APC and other North American pastoral care associations.

• Practical Bearings: The Critical Bibliography Series for Health Care Chaplains

Health Care Ethics

• Guidelines for the Chaplain’s Role in Health Care Ethics
• Spirituality and Health Care Ethics

HIPAA and Pastoral Care

• HIPAA – Definition of a Chaplain Template (PDF)

Religion and Health

• Religion and Health: Collaboration among healthcare disciplines can shape future understanding of how persons cope through religion (PDF)
  by Harold G. Koenig MD and Kevin Adams MDiv BCC from Healing Spirit, fall 2008

Spiritual Assessment and Chaplaincy Care Documentation

• Chaplains, Assessment, and Documentation: A Template (PDF)
• Evaluating Your Spiritual Assessment Process (PDF)
• Improving Identification of Religious Affiliation in Inpatients (PDF)
• Joint Commission Spiritual Assessment Guidelines 
• The Mattering Assessment Tool: M=C4
• Spiritual History Tool: FACT (PDF)
• Spiritual History Tool: FACT, Spanish (PDF)

Spiritual Care of the Nonreligious

• Spiritual Care of the Non-Religious
  by Rev. Mary Martha Thiel BCC and Rev. Mary Robinson BCC, Plain Views Vol. 12 No. 12
   
• Teaching Care of the Non-Religious
  by Rev. Mary Martha Thiel BCC and Rev. Mary Robinson BCC, Plain Views Vol. 12 No. 12
   
• Spiritual Care of American ‘Jews of No Religion’
  by Rev. Mary Martha Thiel BCC, Rev. Mary Robinson BCC and Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow BCC, Plain Views Vol. 12 No. 12