Spiritual care for outpatients with cancer spans a wide and deeply personal journey—from testing and diagnosis through treatment, survivorship, and end of life. Yet many of these individuals spend little time within hospital walls, making connection and continuity of care a growing challenge. Virtual tools now offer chaplains new ways to meet care recipients where they are—both physically and spiritually.
This webinar will explore how Houston Methodist’s Neal Cancer Center developed and implemented an integrated virtual spiritual care program within its outpatient oncology clinics. Using the tools embedded in the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system, the program created ways to integrate spiritual care into the scheduling, referrals, documentation, and communication processes of the clinic and allows for ongoing connection with care recipients across the continuum of care.
Participants will:
- Understand the key processes involved in designing and implementing a virtual spiritual care model in an outpatient context.
- Identify effective ways to use digital and EMR-integrated platforms for screening, communication, and ongoing care.
- Explore creative approaches for providing spiritual and emotional support through virtual modalities.
Rev. James Adams, Senior Chaplain with the Neal Cancer Center, will guide participants through the development of this program, highlighting practical strategies and lessons learned along the way. He will also describe innovative uses of EMR-integrated messaging and video platforms for spiritual screening, text-based care, and creative digital interventions.