Examining the Association Between Chaplain Care and Patient Experience

A developing body of evidence indicates that chaplain care is associated with higher levels of patient/family satisfaction with their hospital care. We examined the association between chaplain care and patient experience among patients at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago who responded to Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems and Press Ganey survey items between 2011 and 2017. Information about chaplain care was taken from the inpatients’ electronic medical record. Our analyses included 11 741 patients, 26.5% of whom had received any chaplain care. Patients with lower self-rated health were more likely to have received chaplain care (P < .001). In bivariate analyses, chaplain care was associated with lower likelihood of reporting the highest score for 4 patient experience items (P < .001). In multi-variable models that adjusted for patient self-rated health and other factors, the association between chaplain care and the 4 patient experience items was nonsignificant. There was no effect modification for patient religious affiliation, self-rated health, or other demographic factors. The chaplain care-patient experience association may be more complex than has initially appeared, and further research is needed to help us better understand it.