I was walking down the hallway in one of our nursing units and one of the nurses said to me, ‘You are here!”  I asked how I could help and she told me she had paged the on-call chaplain to pray with a patient prior to the procedure and I was not the chaplain who responded.  The patient had wanted me to respond because I had two prior visits and a relationship was established.

The good news is that the patient was still in the room as the transport team had just arrived.  So I was able to go to the room and provide a prayer for the patient from a chaplain who knew the patient and the background for the procedure.  Following the prayer and the exit of the patient those waiting with the patient told me they appreciated my coming but were surprised I came following the other chaplain’s visit.  I told them I was coming to the room as part of my rounding just to check on her and did not know anything about the request until I met the nurse outside the room in the hallway.

My learning from this incident is that patients gain peace from having familiarity with their care-givers through their hospitalization.  Continuity of care is an emotional benefit we offer the patient that immediately brings them comfort.  I am so glad I happened to approach the room when I did instead of thirty minutes later when I would have missed the opportunity to pray.