Chaplains and Access to Medical Records

This study was initiated by a Pastoral Care Department of a large academic medical center in order to establish hospital chaplaincy policies and procedures. Four basic questions were asked about professional hospital chaplains and record keeping. The results of the survey show that the standard of practice is that chaplains access the medical record, enter notes in the record, have access to the electronic medical record, and that no special credentialing beyond Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is required for chaplains to have this access.