Right There with You: Challenges for Inpatient Palliative Chaplains and Interdisciplinary Team Members During the Onset of COVID-19 (FR222)

Outcomes 1. Identify ways inpatient palliative care chaplains triaged care at the onset of COVID, changed practices to adapt to evolving circumstances, and addressed professional pressures evident in this study's results 2. Identify salient coding and representative quotes to highlight data of when and where chaplains perceived encountering dimensions of burnout, components of moral distress, or aspects of moral injury while working alongside their interdisciplinary team members 3. Discuss the applicable roles and functions of inpatient care chaplains in consideration of these data in responding to the pandemic and how chaplains seek to mitigate the stressful effects of burnout, moral distress, and moral injury The National Consensus Project Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care Guidelines (4th edition) assert the chaplain to be among the core interdisciplinary team members. However, not much is known about roles and functions of the palliative chaplain, especially amid the stressors, rigors, and chaos of this pandemic's early days. Even less is known about the professional pressures experienced by inpatient palliative chaplains and how they changed practice, including the specific ways they sought to be attentive to and help address interdisciplinary staff support. Although there are some recent data concerning healthcare chaplains globally and within the profession overall during the pandemic, these findings are not explicitly focused on the specialization of palliative chaplaincy. Through the results of our qualitative research investigation, this education will highlight how inpatient palliative chaplains based in the United States changed practice and bore witness to the uncertain and harrowing conditions conducive to the negative effects of overwhelming stressors. Through this concurrent session chaplains experienced in clinical palliative care and research will draw data from their study by using semistructured interviews with 10 inpatient palliative care chaplain research participants. Data collection for this project occurred during the onset (late April to early May 2020) of COVID-19 in the United States. How palliative chaplains triaged, changed practice to adapt to an evolving context, and addressed their unique professional pressures will be described. When and where chaplains perceived their palliative team members experiencing dimensions of burnout, components of moral distress, or aspects of moral injury will also be shared through representative quotes. Last, the shifting roles and functions of inpatient palliative care chaplains due to the pandemic will lead to a discussion of this changed practice, including how it influenced chaplains helping support interdisciplinary team members.