Interdisciplinary Team-Based Pastoral Care Model for Estonian Healthcare Institutions: The Professionals\u27 Insight and the Model Adjustments

The current article addresses the application potential of an interdisciplinary team- based pastoral care model in Estonian healthcare institutions. To support the inclusion of pastoral care in Estonian healthcare institutions, the initial model of interdisciplinary team-based pastoral care was created as a theoretical construction. The current article deals with the model applicability and aims to adjust the model to be adaptable to different healthcare institutions in Estonia. To inform the model adjustments, a qualitative research was conducted in three Estonian hospitals that have included pastoral care provision in different organizational forms. The expert sample consists of pastoral caregivers of these three institutions, and the staff members who have continuously or have had an actual working contact with the pastoral caregiver of their institution. The discussion and proposals address each of the initial theoretical model’s sections and the model adjustments are based on the insight given by the respondents. The conclusions present the adjusted model in the summarizing table

Interdisciplinary Team Based Pastoral Care: A Potentially Adaptable Model for Estonian Healthcare

This article aims to build a potentially adaptable model of clinical pastoral care for Estonia’s healthcare institutions. To help the development of spiritual support provision in Estonian healthcare institutions, we are currently working on creating a model of clinical pastoral care that would be in accordance with the local circumstances. Preparatory research in the matter has addressed the socio-cultural and institutional context that shows the great need for interdisciplinary teamwork. The current article offers concrete proposals in the following main points: a) presentation of the pastoral caregiver; b) main actors; c) forms of cooperation; and c) education and internal trainings. The model construction draws information from international research and considers it in Estonia’s local context. Spiritual support provision in Estonia’s healthcare has not yet been taken for granted and the concept is not fully understood. Secularity and religious diversity also set complex frames. Therefore, the model is suggested in guiding proposals, not in a rigorous structure. As such, the model could also be useful for healthcare spiritual support developments in other countries with similar characteristics. The article also poses possible questions of the implementation potential of the model

Interdistsiplinaarse meeskonnapõhise hingehoiu mudel Eesti tervishoiuasutustele

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneKäesoleva doktoritöö teema on interdistsiplinaarne meeskonnapõhine hingehoid ja selle rakendatavus Eesti tervishoiuasutustes. Uurimistöö on keskendunud teenusearendusele ning kasutab interdistsiplinaarset lähenemist hingehoiule. Doktoritöö sisuks on: a) interdistsiplinaarse meeskonnapõhise hingehoiu mudeli loomine Eesti tervishoiuasutuste jaoks, b) loodud mudeli täpsustamine Eesti haiglates töötavatelt tervishoispetsialistidelt võetud intervjuude põhjal. Hingehoiu pakkumine Eesti tervishoiuasutustes on ebaühtlane – hingehoidjad on kaasatud mõnes Eesti haiglas, kus nad kuuluvad kas palliatiivravi üksusesse, kliiniku või osakonna koosseisu või külastavad haiglat mittekoosseisulisena. Enamus Eesti haiglatest ei paku ametlikult hingehoiuteenust. Hingehoiu interdistsiplinaarne kaasamine Eesti tervishoiuasutuste töös on tihti küsitav ka juhul, kui asutuses on hingehoid patsientidele võimaldatud: a) juhul kui hingehoidja on kutsutud väljast (ei ole koosseisuline); b) juhul kui koosseisuline hingehoidja tajub end pigem individuaalse töötajana. Käesolevas töös loodud interdistsiplinaarse meeskonnapõhise hingehoiu mudel on mõeldud: a) hingehoiu interdistsiplinaarseks rakendamiseks tervishoiuasutustes, kus plaanitakse hingehoidja kaasamist koosseisulisena; b) interdistsiplinaarse koostöö tõhustamiseks hingehoiu pakkumisel neis tervishoiuasutustes, kus hingehoidjad juba koosseisulistena kollektiivi kuuluvad. Mudel pakub nii paindlikkust, mis võimaldab arvestada erinevustega asutuste ja osakondade vahel, kui ka konkreetseid soovitusi, mis põhinevad patsientide erinevaid vajadusi käsitleval teoreetilisel taustal ning praktiseerivate tervishoiutöötajatega teostatud intervjuudel. Interdistsiplinaarse meeskonnapõhise hingehoiu eestikeelne mudel on esitatud kokkuvõtvas tabelis doktoritöö lisas IV. Mudel ei ole mõeldud jägaks raamistikus, vaid seda või kohandada vastavalt asutuse või osakonna eripäradele.The subject of the current thesis is interdisciplinary team based pastoral care and its applicability in Estonian healthcare institutions. The aim is to create an interdisciplinary team based pastoral care model that would be adaptable in different Estonian healthcare institutions. The thesis hopes to uphold the view that people should not be deprived (or feel isolated) from important parts of their lives. This may easily happen to the hospital’s inpatients if they cannot follow their usual religious/spiritual life anymore. While pastoral caregivers are involved in some Estonian hospitals (either as members of palliative care team, working in different clinics or departments, or visiting the hospital), most Estonian hospitals do not provide pastoral care at all. The interdisciplinary team based pastoral care model takes into account Estonian sociocultural and institutional background, is adjusted according to the insight given by the professionals of Estonian hospitals, and is given in flexible guidelines to make it adaptable for different healthcare institutions. As such the model is intended to be useful for: a) involving pastoral care in these institutions which are planning to include pastoral care in their service provision but are not certain about how; b) enhancing interdisciplinary teamwork in pastoral care provision of these institutions which already have included pastoral caregivers as staff members. Although pastoral care service provision is greatly dictated by financing issues (not being financed by the state budget’s health insurance funds) the interdisciplinary team based pastoral care model is one step towards more holistic healthcare care in Estonia. Limited resources prevent involving pastoral care in many cases. We must find and invent the best ways to spread the ‘butter knob’ of limited pastoral care resource as carefully as possible. The model created in the current thesis offers both: a) flexibility that respects the differences between institutions and departments, b) information that is already extracted from the fieldwork and from the theoretical background concerning different aspects of human being