conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

trauma fellowship

And so it goes...

I have been playing with the draft of our proposal this morning during rounds. The trauma team is very interested in my staying on for another year. This is a good thing. Advocacy helps tons.

So, I have been chatting about the grant and my profile. I can't put all my eggs in one basket here. I have to be looking for a church position as well. I will also be checking out www.npo.net and www.idealist.org to see what they have been up to of late. Not-for-profits often want people with MDiv's. This is a good thing. It is time to start looking for work. My position here ends in four months. Wow.

If you are interested, I have posted the "responsibilities" that I will have as trauma chaplain in the extended link. It is a little overwhelming, I must admit.

The fellow will demonstrate knowledge, attitudes, and skills to address the following: ~ Become familiar with barriers to patients and families accepting traumatic life changing events ~ Master advanced principles in spiritual suffering and other disagreeable symptoms encountered by patients and or family, and become familiar with the complex issues that have surfaced regarding patient and family experiences of suffering.

~ Become skilled in psychosocial and spiritual assessment and support for patients and families facing a lengthy illness, including attention to young adults.

~ Understand how to understand, assess and manage traumatic loss and bereavement in all its forms.

~ Enhance basic communication skills for trauma care, particularly delivering bad news, discussing patient values and goals, how to develop a comfortable, trusting relationship with patients and families in the face of considerable anxiety or denial, and principals of patient and family education.

~ Become familiar with how cultural issues, including ethnic and racial factors, influence attitudes and practices in the face of death and dying for patients and their families

~ Develop an understanding of ethical principles and issues in spiritual care, including contemporary approaches to advance care planning and substituted judgment and the debate over futile and stopping treatment.

~ Become familiar with the utilization and recruitment of sub acute facilities for disabled persons and relevant clinical knowledge and skills.

~ Learn about working effectively with an interdisciplinary team: the roles of the nurse, social worker, bereavement coordinator, volunteers, and physicians in trauma teams, and about approaches to handling staff stress and conflict.

~ Become more aware of the personal stresses in working with the traumatically injured and their families, and of sources of personal support.

~ Appreciate the special opportunities in consultative work of working with and teaching the entire health care team, addressing their particular concerns and learning needs in every trauma care consultation

~ Become familiar with evidence-based trauma spiritual care practice, utilizing the principle texts of Trauma medicine and spiritual care and the growing journal literature on trauma care.

~ Become familiar with local and national organizations and programs directed toward enhancing Trauma and Spiritual Care.

~ Learn about and practice educational approaches appropriate to teaching about Trauma care for learners at various stages of clinical training and experience, focusing on assessing and changing attitudes and communication skills.

~ Participate in initiatives to improve the assessment and management of the traumatically injured, and thus become acquainted with educational research, systems interventions, operations improvement, and outcomes measures.

~ Design and implement a brief research project or literature review that can be presented and published.

Well, that should keep me busy for two years, no?

Posted by tripp at April 22, 2005 11:23 AM