From my title you are probably wondering how the needs of patients with a longer length of stay vary from those with a shorter length of stay.  Today I was involved in a conversation about these patients and how pastoral care can best help them deal with the stresses they have in their lives.  I quickly realized as I looked at the specifics of several patients with lengths of stay over 10 days that each patient has their own unique story.  What would be helpful for one patient would not be helpful for another.

So instead of working a plan for care based solely on length of stay we needed to add more factors to our shaping the plan of care.  In looking at current patients I discovered that 3 of our long term patients I have been seeing three times a week.  I knew their stories, their hopes and their challenges. I also had some knowledge of their support network.  Then there were patients in clinical areas that I am not assigned to visit.  Those patients I knew nothing about them other than their name and length of stay.

We decided our first step in meeting the needs of long term patients is to do what I had already been doing on my units.  See them frequently and develop a relationship with them where we know their hopes, dreams, and also their challenges so we can provide them pastoral care that is tailored to their needs.  It was a healthy conversation and I have high hopes it will improve the care we provide.