Supportive Care Services
Supportive Care Services
410-641-9725
At Atlantic General Hospital and Health System we believe total patient
care is patient-focused care, and it involves more than excellence in
medical or surgical achievement. Patients, families, and associates are
all social, emotional and spiritual beings, as well as physical. Healing
includes all these dimensions at Atlantic General Hospital and Health System.
Because caring for the spiritual needs of our patients is an essential
part of total patient care, the hospital chaplain functions as a member
of the health care team.
It is the role of the chaplain to recognize and explore the relationship
between disease; the experience of illness, including cultural and social
factors; and spirituality. This recognition and interpretation helps avoid
breakdowns in communication that may arise in the highly specialized realm
of medicine.
Such a multidisciplinary approach allows various kinds of healing to take
place and enables spirituality and medicine to come together in a complementary fashion.
Supportive Care Services at Atlantic General Hospital may facilitate and
guide the efforts in the following ways:
- Provide compassionate listening and respect for individuals' values,
and cultural and spiritual beliefs.
- Support community clergy as they visit patients and families in the hospital.
-
Assist with completion of
advance directives and living wills.
- Assist with the appointment of a Health Care Agent.
- Family and Patient support through the process of organ donation.
- Facilitate referral to the Advisory Committee for ethics review.
- Provide spiritual and emotional support through pastoral counseling.
- Provide bereavement support and references to community recourses for grief support.
-
Arrange and officiate ecumenical services in the hospital
chapel when appropriate.
- Care for the spiritual and emotional needs of the dying patient and their family.
- Promote the positive benefits of spiritual beliefs in healing.
Our Supportive Care Philosophy
The term “total patient care” means many things to many people.
To some, it implies technical "know-how" to others it refers
to the wealth of available resources, such as intensive care units. To
still others, it means the personal skills that contribute to medical
care. Each of these plays a part in total patient care, but there is another
perspective as well. It is more and more evident that the spiritual dimension-the
realm of values, beliefs, hopes, fears, and meanings- is also a vital
part of the concept of total patient care.
To speak with a chaplain while you are in the hospital, ask your nurse
or another member of the hospital staff to call a chaplain for you.
For more information about Supportive Care Services, contact us at 410-641-9725.