Burns and Clinical Pastoral Education: Is There a Standard of Care?

Abstract

Many hospitals have both burn centers and clinical pastoral education, but there has been no research on what spiritual care resources are utilized for burn patients. The aim of this study is to examine possible patterns of participation in order to determine if there is a standard for best practice. Forty-three hospitals were found to have both burn centers and CPE programs. Surveys were sent to Nurse Managers, and another survey was sent to supervisors of CPE students. Twenty-five nurse managers and 22 CPE students responded. Nineteen (N=22) students participated in a multidisciplinary team. Twenty students reported feeling like they were part of the team. Twenty-four (N=25) nurse managers reported that spiritual care was available. Ten students had contact with the physicians “always” or “usually”. Eight of the students had burn education available. Fifteen students “never” went to the OR. Wound care and wound rounds scored “never” or “rarely”. Multidisciplinary...