Palliative Care Chaplain

Job Description:
The Staff Palliative Care Chaplain provides compassionate spiritual and emotional support to patients with serious or life-limiting illnesses, their families, and caregivers. As a member of the interdisciplinary palliative care team, the chaplain conducts spiritual assessments, offers crisis intervention, and contributes to care planning and decision-making. This role involves facilitating family meetings, supporting advanced care planning, and coordinating resources to meet the unique spiritual and emotional needs of each patient.
Essential Functions
Assists patients, families, and visitors in coping with psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual needs during illness, trauma, and stress, while also offering caregiver and physician support for grief, moral distress, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue.
Participates in daily palliative care interdisciplinary team (IDT) rounds, including in the ICU, and engages in the ICU Early Intervention Model to support identified palliative care patients, collaborating with the team to develop and implement ongoing care plans.
Partners with ICU attending and resident physicians to assess the need and timing for family meetings, participates and may schedule and facilitate those meetings.
Conducts chart reviews to locate patients’ advance directives and assists in completing them when needed, ensuring that patients’ wishes are clearly documented and respected.
Develops, implements, and documents spiritual assessments, interventions, and outcomes, and ensures accurate and professional documentation in the electronic medical record system.
Responds to crisis situations such as resuscitations, trauma, rapid response, death, and security alerts, and participates in ethics consultations and triage calls as directed by the care site.
Works as a collaborative member of the Spiritual Care department by attending meetings, contributing to quality improvement plans and strategy deployment, promoting teamwork and collegiality, and maintaining flexibility to provide shift coverage as needed.
Participates in committees and may lead specific projects or initiatives, while also performing other duties as assigned.
Skills
Empathetic and Exceptional Listening
Spiritual Assessment and Pastoral Counsel
Crisis Intervention and Supportive Presence
Interdisciplinary and Team Collaboration
Verbal and Written Communication
Meeting and Priority Management
Digital and Electronic Documentation Competence
Interfaith Knowledge and Cultural Sensitivity
Family and Group Dynamics Awareness
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's Degree (accredited)
Completion of 2 units of Accredited Clinical Pastoral Education meeting approval of NACC/APC BCCi completed within 2 years of hire
Completion of four units of Clinical Pastoral Education meeting approval of NACC/APC BCCi completed within 2 years of hire
Two or more years of health care chaplaincy experience, with at least one of those years specifically in palliative care.
Documentation from ecclesial judicatory body of current endorsement and/or reference prescribed in accordance with applicant’s spiritual/faith tradition (received or reaffirmed within the last 12 months) articulating current endorsement/authorization for hospital chaplaincy ministry and applicant’s good standing with endorsing/authorizing body. The letter must be mailed, emailed, or faxed directly from the endorsing/recommending organization. Faith groups must be recognized by the Department of Defense (Armed Forces chaplains Board) or previously reviewed and approved by the BCCi. If not, approval of documentation of authorization/endorsement must come from Intermountain Mission office regarding a review of the faith group.
Preferred Qualifications
Completion of 4 or more units of Clinical Pastoral Education meeting approval by NACC/APC BCCI
Three or more years of relevant spiritual care experience in palliative care.
Physical Requirements
Ongoing need for employee to see and read information, labels, documents, monitors, identify equipment and supplies, and be able to assess customer needs.
Frequent interactions with providers, colleagues, customers, patients/clients and visitors that require employee to verbally communicate as well as hear and understand spoken information, needs, and issues quickly and accurately.
Manual dexterity of hands and fingers to manipulate complex and delicate supplies and equipment with precision and accuracy. This includes frequent computer use for typing, accessing needed information, etc.
For roles requiring driving: Expected to drive a vehicle which requires sitting, seeing and reading signs, traffic signals, and other vehicles.
Location:
Intermountain Health LDS Hospital
Work City:
Salt Lake City
Work State:
Utah
Scheduled Weekly Hours:
40
The hourly range for this position is listed below. Actual hourly rate dependent upon experience.
$28.06 - $44.20
We care about your well-being – mind, body, and spirit – which is why we provide our caregivers a generous benefits package that covers a wide range of programs to foster a sustainable culture of wellness that encompasses living healthy, happy, secure, connected, and engaged.
Learn more about our comprehensive benefits package here.
By applying for a position with Intermountain, I acknowledge that I will comply with all applicable Intermountain policies and expectations. If applying for a remote or hybrid role, this includes remote work expectations related to confidentiality, information security, work schedules, conflicts of interest, and use of company equipment. I further acknowledge that outside employment or activities may not interfere with job responsibilities or create a conflict of interest with Intermountain. Actual or reasonably perceived conflicts may be grounds for disqualification from consideration or, if hired, corrective action up to and including termination of employment.
Intermountain Health is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gende