Lived Mission

Physicians contribute to the actual, lived institutional mission. What they contribute influences how closely the actual, lived mission approximates the stated mission. What physicians contribute is a strong influence indeed. The role of programs in physician spirituality is to help physicians find meaning in the work they do and see it in the context of the hospital mission. These programs can work on a number of levels such as personal reflection, leadership development, collegial mentoring, and service opportunities. Many details of how we have approached these levels constitute much of the remainder of what appears in this forum, but there is a commonality for each program. Each one links to the mission, vision and values of our hospital.

How do you see physicians contributing to the mission of the hospital?

Mission as Spirituality

Institutional mission gives an institution its purpose, its reason for being. In a sense, a hospital or institution has its own spirituality, and it can be summarized in a mission statement. Of course, just as in the life of an individual, what we claim as our institutional goal is often not what we actually do. An actual, lived institutional mission emerges from the collective spirituality of its members. The concept of collective spirituality transcends the differences in departmental purposes. Understandably the purposes of the marketing, food services and surgery departments are very different, although they serve the overarching institutional purpose of curing disease and healing the spirit. Yet, collective spirituality refers to the collection of all of the people’s individual spiritualities who work within or are served by the institution.

How significant is the mission statement in your institution?

Power of Mission Statement

To understand the power of the mission statement we need to consider two important concepts and how they relate to the institutional mission. When people hear the word “spirituality” most will immediately and exclusively associate it with the word “religion.” This work require a persistent and steady message that “spirituality” and “religion” are different. “Religion” in this context is an institutionalized system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices relating to the worship of God or the supernatural. There are at least thirty general definitions of “spirituality.” For this work, one definition serves me best: “Spirituality is that which gives a person meaning and purpose in life.

What understanding of spirituality serves you best?

Clear Mission

Making a mission assessment is not as straightforward as you might imagine. Realize that the people in positions of leadership may not be the thought leaders within the institution. So, there are two classes of leaders to consider, the thought leaders and the positional leaders. The views of both classes of leader are important to your work. Get a clear articulation of the goals of the hospital leaders. This is a time for integrity and truth-telling because the power and the joy of your work will hang on these overriding goals. When the mission statement is in alignment with the leaders’ stated goals, the mission statement becomes a powerful tool in your hands.

Where do you find the "thought leaders" in your hospital?

Barriers to Collaboration

The relationship between hospitals and their physicians is critical to the goal of real healing. Many features of modern practice strain those relationships. Some physicians are employed by their hospitals and have the strains of employee-employer relationships. Others are employed by independent practices which often compete for business against the very hospitals that court their cooperation.

Where have you seen the stresses in the physician-hospital relationship impair healing?

Physician Champion's Faith Tradition

Physicians often registered surprise and perhaps a bit of relief when they discovered that I was a Methodist working in a Roman Catholic hospital. I can only imagine what concerns they might have harbored. I suspect that they feared that they would be required to accept Catholic doctrine or be pressed to convert to Catholicism. When I mentioned my Methodist faith tradition, it probably did more to dispel those fears that all of my teaching on the differences between religion and spirituality.

What kinds of fears do you imagine (or hear) from physicians on your staff?