The Role of the Palliative Care Chaplain in the United States

The authors are established palliative care chaplains in adult hospital-based palliative care programmes in the United States of America. In this chapter, we discuss the role of the chaplain from our own perspective, being aware that our social and geographical locations influence our perspective. As members of the interdisciplinary palliative care team, palliative care chaplains in the United States are in a unique position to provide team-based contributions. In this chapter, we describe emerging evidence-based models and current best practices in three realms (clinical, education/training, and leadership) in order to provide guidance to palliative care professionals on how the integration and strengthening of the role of the palliative care chaplain can be achieved.